The Tropical Paradise Theory
by SRAM
Summary: What if story. What if Penny actually became an actress like her original plan only a year or two after getting to California. Penny never moves to 2311 Los Robles, Pasadena, but things still have a way of happening.
1. Chapter 1

**TROPICAL PARADISE THEORY**

**LEONARD ****is a nice guy, so here is a story where a nice guy doesn't finish last but instead first. What happens when a brilliant scientist meets four gorgeous women and they immediately see who he is and take him in as a friend. Read and find out. **

**Chapter 1 - Paradise**

Leonard walked down the beach to the monitor station for his daily status check of the equipment and to download the last 24 hours of data for transmittal, a routine he had been doing every day, for the last month. He now always walked along the beach instead of the shorter inland route by automobile, both because he liked the sound of the sea and the feel of the breeze on his now tanned skin. The guys had accused him, in his last Skype session with them, of going completely native, because he only seemed to wear cargo shorts, a topical button up shirt, always unbuttoned, and sandals as his only daily wardrobe anymore. But what made them even more positive, he had become a beach bum, was that he would only shave about every 4-5 days now, his unshaved face appearing almost all the time on their screens during their communications, as Leonard saw no reason to shave every day in the tropical paradise he was now living in.

Relaxing and laid back was the perfect way to describe this life he had been living the last month, and he still couldn't believe he actually first resisted going on this trip initially. He chuckled at the nerd he was, and how several months ago he was dead against doing this research project in Jamaica because of the things he was now enjoying the most, the sun, water, and tranquility. It actually took Stephen Hawking personally asking him to take it, being the only reason he was now here, after all who could turn down the great man, he was a science God. It was actually an honor the great man asked him and he understood that it was sort of a reward for the work he did the last summer in the North Sea. The other scientists in their team were spending this same summer back in the North Sea, while Leonard gathered control data in the ocean around Jamaica, they all joked about how much they hated him, but everyone still said he deserved it and really wished him well.

He made his way along the beach glancing at the other rental beach houses along the way, some of them occupied and some of them still vacant. He was really lucky when he thought about it, he had a small beach house to himself, paid for by the university, and his work wasn't hard, it was actually a great way to spend the summer and it only needed one thing to make it perfect. Leonard wondered how it would be to spend this time in paradise with a woman, someone to share this all with, and someone to love.

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Penny got off the plane with her entourage for their month on this island of paradise, Jamaica, she had been looking forward to this month the whole last half of her movie, which had just finished filming. It was just going to be a month of relaxation for her and having a good time with her best friends in the world. She didn't really didn't feel the need for any men this particular trip, because she had her best friends with her and the four of them could easily have fun the next month without anyone else around.

It was no sooner than they arrived at baggage when they saw the limousine driver with the sign 'Penelope' on it, however she didn't need to introduce herself as the man immediately recognized her. So the next 20 minutes, Penny and the girls spent pointing to their bags on the conveyor belt while the nice limousine driver and two porters grabbed her and her friends bags to put in the car. By the time they were driving in the limousine, to the beach house, Penny's agent rented, they were all giddy, staring out the window and getting excited about the tropical paradise they were in.

Penny was especially happy, she had really needed this break, between a failed relationship, with another actor, and working so much to take her mind off it, spending her time with her besties was as much for her peace of mind as it was to get away from everything. They were really a mixed bag of friends, there was Bernadette, her first and best friend in California, they became friends while Penny first was a waitress, to pay bills while auditioning for parts. It was also Bernadette that gave her a place to stay, when during her first year in California, her boyfriend Kurt decided one girlfriend wasn't enough to satisfy his ego and while rooming with her Penny got her big break, a movie part that launched her career. Penny and Bernadette had become great friends, also Penny was really impressed that Bernadette was smart, really smart, she was working on her PHD in microbiology and would soon have her doctorate, she became the smart decision maker of the group.

Amy was Bernadette's friend at first, she and Bernadette had met while Amy, who was already a PHD, was taking some graduate microbiology courses to broaden her education and they became lab partners. Amy's quirking personality but huge kind heart, soon resulted in her becoming friends with Bernadette and then Penny, who thought the serious Dr Amy Farrah Fowler was a really fun person once she started to let her hair down. Amy was also the voice of sensibility in their little group, the one that kept them all from going completely wild.

Finally there was Katie, Penny's best friend from back home near Omaha Nebraska, they had know each other for years. Katie had given Penny the courage to come to California, to follow her dream, Katie was the strength of the group, she was Penny's rock, the person she leaned on when things got to her, and she was the one that suggested this trip in the first place. They were Penny's entourage, but also her besties and she loved them all, there was nobody else she would want to spend the next month with in paradise.

The beach house that they had rented was fantastic, it had a bedroom and bathroom for each of the girls, a big living area, a kitchen and a great deck that faced the ocean. From that deck it was only a 50 yard walk down a boardwalk path to the beach, Penny and the girls knew they were going to have a good time this next month. However now that they were there, it was past dinner time, so the girls ordered Pizza from a delivery service recommended by the guest book and settled in for a relaxing evening just eating on their porch watching the sun go down. They were all suffering from jet lag, so planned to go to bed early, tomorrow would be the first real day of their summer adventure.

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The next morning Penny was standing on the deck of the beach house having a cup of coffee, Amy made, and like always it was wonderful. Amy brewed coffee that gave Starbucks a run for their money and the girls depended on her every morning when they were together, to knock their socks off with her fantastic brewing talents. However this morning Penny wasn't thinking of her coffee, she was watching the man walking down the beach past their house, she couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was gorgeous, dark tan, his body lean and still with a definite muscle tone, dark thick wind blown hair, a few days beard growth that made him look so sexy to her, and his open shirt blowing open every so often to reveal his chest, Penny was mesmerized.

Penny didn't even hear Katie walk up behind her, her own coffee in hand, "What you looking at….Oh, stud muffin watching, already."

Penny turned her head to look at her friend, a deep blush on her cheeks. "Um….I was just looking at the ocean."

Katie giggled, "Yeah girl, I've seen that look before, you are checking out the wildlife in the local area." Then Katie's eyes went wide. "Holy crap Penny, just looking at him turns you on that much?"

"What…..nooo." Penny blushed some more.

"Yeah right, then why are your nipples trying to tear out of your top and your eyes are almost black from dilation." Katie teased.

"I'm cold and maybe I have allergies." Penny lied.

"It must be close to 80 already, and you don't have allergies, but if you want to go with that excuse, who am I to argue." Katie responded, "I have some eye drops and I think I have a nice warm hoodie in my stuff if you need it girl." An evil smile on her face, "So just let me know if you need them."

"Yeah, thanks, I'll let you know." Penny then turned to look at him again, only to see is distant back as he moved out of sight down the beach. Penny sighed, she really felt disappointed at that moment, and she wondered if he would be coming back down the beach anytime soon.

Katie watched her friend, noticing the sigh, feeling a little sorry for her. Penny hadn't had a boyfriend for almost a year now, the last one another actor, who seemed more concerned with his career than Penny, which had led to her working hard the last year, trying to get over him and the way he treated her. Katie hoped this month would let Penny relax, and now seeing her lusting over some guy on the beach, made Katie realize maybe that is what Penny really needed to have some guy fun this month, and Katie knew she was just the one to make that happen.

Leonard noticed that one more of the beach houses was now rented, seeing people standing on the deck that morning. It was one of the bigger places and he thought he saw two woman, so it was probably two couples sharing some time in paradise. Again, he thought how wonderful this place would be with someone you cared for, the walks on the beach, the nightlife and just of casual comfort of the place. However, like almost every day before, he put those thoughts out of his mind, he was there and he had a job to do, so he just walked down the beach and thought about his plans to do that day in another day of paradise.

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That day the girls took it easy, recovering from their trip, spending some time getting some sun that day then went into town to eat and look around. There was a lot to see and it wasn't long before they were eating at a restaurant recommended by the guest book, drinking wine with their meal and carrying on. It was a great night, good food and best friends, add the wine, and they all had fun and went back to the beach house full and slightly giddy, but not drunk. They even went into the water for a few minutes before dark then afterwards just relaxing on the deck, drinking some more wine, and watching the sun go down again for another perfect day.

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The next morning Penny overslept, she had already started to relax some being here with her friends and the wine she had the night before made her sleep deeply that night. She was a little disappointed that she missed her eye candy walking down the beach that morning, but promised herself tomorrow she would get up early enough to see if he walked by again. The wine they had made all the girls wake up late that morning, so as soon as they got dressed and ready, they headed into town to get food, then do a little shopping, today. The shopping lasted all afternoon, with all the girls buying skimpy string bikinis with thong bottoms to maximize their tans while they were there. They were having a great time, so it didn't surprise any of them when they realized it was past six and they were all hungry.

Leonard was sitting at the restaurant bar, and had just ordered his favorite grilled fish dish, waiting patiently for it to come, while having a local beer. He was use to eating alone and since he ate at this restaurant regularly the last month, he was considered a good customer and got a little special treatment by the staff. He was sitting quietly reading a book, that he had started a week ago, when the sound of giggling women's voices broke his concentration, and he turned to look at where they were coming from. When he turned on his stool, he saw the four pretty young women at a center table in the restaurant all laughing and carrying on, obviously good friends and having a great time. He smiled and turned back around again the thought of having someone to share this all weighing heavily on his mind again, as he stared at the book he suddenly wasn't interested in anymore.

Penny couldn't help but laugh at her friends, they were so funny carrying on about their afternoon shopping excursion, especially ribbing Amy about the blonde young man that kept hitting on her in one of the novelty shops. Penny was really enjoying herself and felt great, her friends were like a medicine for her, curing her of any stress she had before she got there with them. She was just laughing at an extremely embarrassing remark Bernadette said to Amy about checking to see if the young man was blonde all over, when she glanced at the bar and froze. There he was, and he had looked back at them, the guy from the beach, and suddenly she felt her heart beating faster, as she forced herself to look back at her friends.

Kathie tried to recover from a belly laugh as Amy told Bernadette the young man was probably too young to even have hair down there, when she noticed her friend's face, she was staring at something and whatever it was had Penny's attention. Katie quickly followed Penny's eyes and saw that guy from the beach, he was sitting at the bar, and Katie noticed the moment of desire on Penny's face, before she composed herself to look back at her friends. This was something Katie never noticed Penny do before and it both worried her and made her wonder what was going on with her friend.

Leonard swallowed, why did he let things like this get to him, he was here to work, not on a vacation, so he was not the loser he felt he was being in paradise alone. Leonard was scientist doing important work, however he felt self conscious, like a voyeur, realizing how he would see the happy couples and wished he had someone to share paradise with too. Like so many times before he tried to put the pretty young women, he just saw, out of his mind and go back to reading, but as he looked at the words, he couldn't seem to read a single one of them.

Penny blinked a couple of times when she saw Katie staring at her, then turned to Bernadette and Amy, who had finally noticed her quietness too. "Penny is something wrong." Amy asked.

It took a moment for Penny to understand what Amy said, "No…..nothing."

Bernadette and Amy's backs were to the bar, so they didn't see what Katie saw and had no idea what was going on with their firend, but Katie didn't exactly know what happened a few moments ago either. Penny seemed to be in a trance for a few moments and it definitely had something to do with the man at the bar, however now Penny seemed to have recovered, hiding emotions like she was acting in another of her movies. Katie didn't want to say anything until she figured out what happened, so she thought it was probably best to change the subject, while she thought things out. "So guys what looks good on the menu?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Introductions**

The other two girls were immediately distracted and started looking at the menu, however Katie could see Penny's façade drop for a second and the slightly confused look on Penny's face, her eyes darting towards the bar every few seconds. The more Katie looked at him, she was positive he was the guy from the beach, and Penny, just like that morning, seemed to be fixated on him, which was unusual for her, she didn't normally act like that with guys. Katie felt protective of her friend, even though Penny was a strong person, when she fell in love, she loved with all her heart and became so vulnerable, she was too easily hurt when in love.

The girls ordered their food and while they waited Katie still noticed Penny taking glances at the man at the bar anytime she thought she could get away with it. Katie started to watch him too, and she noticed how the waitress hugged him after she gave him his food, like he was an old friend, she also saw Penny noticed that too, a slight frown on her face as she watched them hug. He never looked back at them and after a few minutes she saw him say something to the bartender then walk over to the bathroom area, so Katie thought now was a good time as any and excused herself to go to the bathroom.

"Hey…Hey you." Katie said as soon as they were out of sight of the girls table.

Leonard was about to open the door to the men's room when he turned to look at who was calling him. She looked immediately familiar and it took him a second to realize she was sitting with the group of pretty girls at the table. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, do you know Penelope?"

"Who?"

"Penelope, do you know her?"

'Oh Crap', Leonard thought, they were mad at him, they must have saw him turn and look at them, so now they were going to confront him because they thought he was a creep or something. "I don't know a Penelope. I just eat dinner here a lot and you and your friends laughter just surprised me." He watched the girl nod, a stern look on her face. "I don't know anyone named Penelope and I'm sorry I turned stared at you all, if it offended you." Leonard was so ashamed at that moment, he looked down at his hands for a moment then back at this woman, who suddenly he found was not looking so stern but seemed to be analyzing him.

Katie didn't know why, but he seemed like a nice guy, "That's okay, we're not offended, so no harm done." It was then that Katie decided to try something, Penny seemed attracted to him and he seemed to not be a creep, so why not introduce him to her. He didn't even know who she was, maybe this was a good thing. "When you get done there, since you're alone, why don't you come eat with us."

Leonard almost fainted right there, did he hear her right, she wanted him to join them, he must have heard her wrong. "You want me to come eat with you?"

Katie couldn't help but smile at the innocent way he said those words, he was definitely not a creep. "Yeah, come over and talk."

Leonard was beyond surprised, "Umm…..okay."

Katie smiled again, "okay." then turned to go back to the girls.

No sooner then Katie sat back down she turned to Penny, "He is going to eat with us."

Penny looked at her confused, "Who?" then her eyes got wide. "NO! you didn't, Oh my God, Katie what did you do. Oh my God." Penny's face went red and she seemed so flustered it made Katie want to laugh, she looked like a schoolgirl being asked on her first date.

"What's happening?" Amy asked as both her and Bernadette looking from Penny to Katie in confusion.

This was just too funny to Katie, Penny was so nervous, a real basket case, she had never seen her like this before. "I just invited a guy to eat with us."

"Really who?" Bernadette now looked even more confused than Amy.

Katie now saw the man pick his plate up from the bar and start to walk over, she couldn't believe she could tell he was nervous too. "And here he comes."

"Oh my God, I'm going to die, Katie I hate you." Penny whispered to Katie, she was a wreck right now.

"Hi" Leonard stood at the table. "I'm Leonard" he really didn't know what to do so he held out his hand.

Katie, couldn't believe how nervous he was, and how nervous Penny was, they were so adorably cute. "Hi Leonard, I didn't introduce myself before, I'm Katie, that is Bernadette and Amy and of course this is Penny." Katie giggled as she shook his hand. Bernadette and Amy shook it too as they watched everything very confused.

Leonard then turned to Penny. "Hi, I'm Leonard." he said, 'God' he thought 'she is beautiful'.

Penny couldn't tear her eyes from his big brown ones, they were like pools and she thought she would get lost in them. The butterflies in her stomach were going crazy and her voice didn't seem to work right. "Hi, I'm Penny." she squeaked, embarrassed she sounded so pathetic.

Bernadette and Amy looked on in a little surprise, both wondering what was happening with their friend Penny who seemed ready to crawl under the table and hide at any moment. Also, they noticed, especially Bernadette, that this guy was a little shy and very cute, Bernadette thinking she knew him from somewhere but couldn't figure out why he seemed so familiar. However, what made things really confusing to Amy and Bernadette, was Katie's little smirk that seemed to indicate she knew what was happening and was keeping them clueless.

Leonard just stood there, he couldn't move, he was stuck in place, never being in a situation like this and having no idea what to do next. He finally moved when the woman named Katie cleared her throat and asked him to sit down. The girls scooting over as he took the spot between Bernadette and Penny, both him and Penny not at looking at each other and him trying to keep eye contact with the other girls to a minimum. Leonard didn't know what to say next so he was relieved when the girls food came a moment later.

"Well Leonard, I see you found some friends." the waitress teased Leonard as she put the plates in front of the girls.

Leonard blushed, but he had a three day of growth of hair on his face, so thankfully no one really noticed. "Thank you, Martha." He was already so embarrassed and scared, Martha's teasing only making things worse.

Leonard slowly tried to eat, while the girls ate, knowing with food in his mouth he didn't have to talk and wouldn't look like the idiot he currently felt like. It the couple minutes of silence Leonard started to relax a little, but being so close to the two beautiful women on each side of him, was making it impossible for him to fully relax, it was like he was waiting for something to go terribly wrong. His discomfort made him not notice that Penny was having even a harder time with sitting next to him, she felt she could feel the heat from his body and it was driving her crazy, he was so cute and sexy. She kept taking quick glances at him, making her feel so stupid, and scared, she really wanted to know him better and she couldn't help the feeling she just wanted to kiss him.

"So Leonard, do you live here, everyone seems to know you here." Amy wanted to find out what was going on, and Katie wasn't letting them in on anything.

"No, I am just here this summer working. I have been here a month already and I guess I eat here a lot."

'Working?' Now Katie wanted to know more about him too. She still felt protective of Penny and she didn't want some guy Penny was obviously attracted to, to hurt her. "So what do you do?"

At least this something he could talk about, but he knew they would think he was a nerd after he told them what he did. "I am collecting undersea data to compare with data from the North Sea for research on the origin of the universe. We have been working on Dr Hawking's theory for over a year now and we needed data from this area for our comparison." Leonard immediately felt stupid after he explained his work, why would girls like these care about a stupid scientist, they probably dated guys who did really manly things, not like him, he never noticed Penny staring at him with extreme interest.

"You're, Dr Hofstadter, aren't you?" Bernadette blurted out, making the other three girls look at her then at Leonard.

"Yeah, I am, I'm a little surprised you know me." Leonard said confused.

"Well if I didn't go into microbiology, I was going into physics, so I read a lot of science magazines. There was an article about Hawking's work and his team, a lot about you too and how you head up his experimental physics team. There were a couple pictures of you, too, I didn't recognize you at first, you look a lot different than your pictures." Bernadette explained, "Better." she said with a smile.

"He's a scientist?" Katie said to Bernadette, then to him, "You're a scientist?" Katie had never seen scientists that looked like him, except on the Sci-Fi channel.

Leonard nodded, a little embarrassed, but even more surprised, they weren't treating him like a nerd. "Yeah, I normally work at Cal Tech in California, but I have been loaned out to Dr Hawking for the two years."

Amy now jumped in "Loaned out to Dr Hawking is a little bit of an understatement Dr Hofstadter, as I understand Dr Hawking hand picks his team, so you must be some sort of a big deal in physics." Bernadette nodded.

Penny was now completely in awe of the man next to her, as she watched her two friends make a big fuss about him and his work. Amy was brilliant and Bernadette was too, so them being impressed with Leonard was really a big deal. He was not only cute and sexy, he was really smart, Penny wondered if he could get any more perfect. "Dr Hawking is that guy who invented time or something like that." Penny was immediately embarrassed after the words left her mouth.

Leonard turned and smiled at her, her voice sounded so beautiful, to him, "Yeah something like that. He is something like a science God." Amy and Bernadette both nodded after Leonard said that.

Penny barely heard his words, his smile melted her heart, the urge to kiss him was now even stronger and again she became lost in his eyes. Katie nudging her brought her out of her trance, Penny quickly came back to reality and asked him, "Umm…so do you like working for him?"

Leonard smiled at her again, just looking at her brought a smile to his face, "Yeah, it is pretty cool. He is always pushing the edge in science, it is like being on the forefront of great discoveries. He is one of a kind."

"It must be wonderful to work with someone who you admire so much." Penny said, hoping he didn't get that she wasn't talking about Hawking.

Leonard slowly nodded, not getting her innuendo, "Yeah it is amazing to be with someone like that."

Amy and Bernadette didn't notice Penny's words either, they were both impressed with Leonard and just wanted to talk to him. Katie, just kept watching Penny, she seemed completely enthralled by this guy and then looked at Bernadette and was stunned to see the same look. Katie started to eat again, not sure what to do, suddenly thinking it may not have been a good idea to invite him over to their table. However, Bernadette was very happy Katie had brought Dr Hofstadter over, as she now kept taking glances at him, she was really impressed with him and felt like flirting with him. Leonard was a scientist, like her and Bernadette really thought he was cute and interesting, plus she was going to be there a month, so why not have some fun.

The girls all started eating again, so Leonard slowly turned to look at his food and to try to think. These women seemed to be impressed by him, why would they be so nice to him, he was never a girl's first choice, especially with all the tanned muscular men that passed through this resort area each day. Leonard was really out of his element, but he knew he had to not act stupid and not talking was stupid, so grabbing some courage from the knowledge that they didn't think he was a nerd, he fought the feeling of inferiority and thought of something to say.

Leonard took a couple bites then looked at the girls, "So how long have you all been here."

Amy responded first, "We got here two days ago, so we really haven't had a chance to see much yet."

"Oh." Leonard now thought he knew why they were being so nice and frowned, they hadn't seen the men around this place yet. It wouldn't take them long to hook up with some the studs that were trolling the area.

Katie noticed the change in Leonard's expression, which confused her, so she wanted to continue the conversation to see what was wrong. "How long have you been here…Leonard?"

Penny was still looking at him, she loved listening to him talk, his voice was so…..sexy.

"I've been here a little over 7 weeks. It took us almost three weeks to set up the sensors, and the rest of the time I've spent monitoring and sending data back to our research center." Leonard explained.

"That explains the great tan." Bernadette added, yeah she was flirting, she wanted to make sure the other girls knew she was making a claim.

Katie looked at Bernadette, her eyes were twinkling, they it struck Katie, Bernadette had a little crush on this guy too and she wanted him. Katie now took a closer look at Leonard herself, he was cute and sort sexy the way he looked with his hair, facial hair and tanned body, plus you could tell he wasn't a player, he was a nice guy and it made you like him right away. 'Whoa', Katie thought, she tried to shake the thought from her mind, she had just wondered how he would be in bed and pictured that tanned body over her, she did not want to go there. She knew herself, he would be a summer fling for her, she liked taller guys, no her friend needed someone to help her over her previous relationship and this guy seemed safe, that's why she invited him over. However as she looked back over a Bernadette, she realized Penny might not get him, because the truth was Bernadette and Dr Hofstadter were a better match intellectually. "So how is the nightlife around here?" She asked Leonard.

Leonard quietly sighed, it was really pleasant to sit and actually be treated nice by four beautiful women, but as soon as these girls hit the popular clubs that would be over. They would find guys and that would be all he saw of them again, he smiled a little, well anyway today was nice and he could show them some of the clubs and have a nice time tonight in their company. "Well since it is Friday night, it should be hopping tonight. I could show you a couple of the more popular and safe places, if you like."

Amy looked at him confused, "Safe?"

Leonard nodded, "Yeah, this is a resort place, so there are some people that sort of prey on tourists."

Katie nodded, "By all means the safe places then." The other three girls nodded in agreement.

Leonard and the girls finished up their meal pretty quickly after that, then continued to talk while they had desert and coffee afterwards. The conversation was really easy for all of them, which really shocked Leonard on how easy it was to talk to them, especially Bernadette who was full of questions that he could actually answer. He found out about Amy's work, Bernadette's school, but not much about Penny except that her and Katie where life long friends from Nebraska. Time flew by and when Katie remarked that it was past 8 PM they quickly paid their bills and headed out the door, everyone following Leonard to the club he recommended.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - The Nightclub **

Even though they were a little early for the night, the club they went to was already filling up with patrons for the evening. However being early, got them a decent table not very far from the bar or the open air dance floor. Penny really was glad they met up with Leonard for obvious reasons, but now being brought to this really nice place was another reason that meeting him that day had been a great coincidence. The dance floor was large and in the open with palm trees around it, it looked like something out of a movie, and the tables were several deep surrounding it. The bars, there were two of them, were on both sides of the dance floor and the tables, so you didn't have to go far for a drink and the crowd was really getting large with lots of people their age already socializing and dancing. The girls even liked the music, which included some tropical songs, top ten, mixed with a few classics, and the sound system was just loud enough, but not too loud. The place was perfect and Penny couldn't help think that was in some part due to the man that was sitting at the table, with them.

The club filled up fast, after they arrived, with good looking men and women, so just when they got their drinks a man walked up Amy and asked her to dance, which made her smile and stand up to go to the dance floor with him. No sooner then Amy stood up, a very handsome tall man asked Katie to dance and while she turned to answer him, a very well built blonde man bent down to ask Penny to dance. Penny was about to tell the man no, when Bernadette jumped up and grabbed Leonard's hand to pull him to the dance floor with her, which stunned her for a moment as she watched Bernadette drag Leonard along with her.

"Would you like to dance?" the handsome man said again, and Penny just looked blankly up at him and slowly nodded, allowing herself to be led to the dance floor.

Leonard let Bernadette take him to the middle of the dance floor and began to dance with her, he really was surprised how things were turning out at the moment, he was on the dance floor with a beautiful girl and Bernadette's smile and personality were infectious so he smiled back as they danced. He had really thought he would be left at the table, as the much better looking men swooped down on the four pretty girls sitting with the nerd. Actually he was sort of use to other guys treating him like he wasn't there, when he was with a girl, and tonight had been no exception. He just had this fantasy, in his mind, that tonight would be different and he would have someone to slow dance with, their eyes meeting, resulting in them both kissing each other and the beginning of their love. He knew he was silly and pathetic, but just once in his life he had wished he could catch a break and have someone amazing too. However, even though he thought all four girls were out of his league, this cute adorable blonde, Bernadette, seemed to like him, so he began to just enjoy being with her and considered himself for once lucky. With those thoughts, Leonard started to pay more attention to her, smiling and laughing at her little jokes, she was telling him while they danced, he was having a good time with a beautiful girl in paradise, he didn't know how long it would last but he was determined to enjoy it.

Penny tried to see Leonard and Bernadette while she danced, catching only occasional glimpses of them in the crowd, as her dancing partner moved her on the floor. She couldn't believe how it bothered her, knowing he was with another girl, even if it was her friend Bernadette, who she was extremely jealous of right now. Penny stayed out for a second song, again trying to see her friend and Leonard, but when the next song, a slow one played she faked being tired and headed to the table. Her friends were already sitting down talking to their dancing partners, however, as Penny approached the table it became evident Bernadette and Leonard weren't there. She sat down thinking they would show up shortly and Penny decided right then she would ask Leonard to dance with her when the next song played, like Bernadette did before, but as she waited for him, a thought crossed her mind. She quickly stood to look out on the dance floor only to seen Bernadette pulled tightly in Leonard's arms, her head on his shoulder, a small smile on her face, slowly dancing to the romantic music of the song. The sadness Penny had felt before now got the best of her and she excused herself to go to the restroom, to lock herself in a stall, the feelings she were trying to control, now making her sick to her stomach.

Katie saw Penny go off and knew she was upset, she had grown up with Penny so she had seen all her emotions many times over, she was just happy no one else had seemed to notice. Katie looked at her guy, Steve, "Sweetie, I need to do my girl thing too, and you know us girls can't go to the bathroom by ourselves, so give me a minute." Steve just nodded and smiled at her, and Katie right then decided Steve was going to get lucky tonight, for his understanding.

It didn't take long for Katie to see Penny's sandals under the stall. "Penny are you okay?"

"Yes….I'm okay." Her voice cracked and she hated being so weak.

"Sweetie, what's wrong…is it that guy."

"No." Penny didn't give a damm about the guy she was sitting with and was too embarrassed to tell anyone she had a crush on Leonard.

Katie knew she was lying, "Okay then what's wrong."

"Nothing." Penny realized that was such a lie that she added, "I don't think I feel well….maybe my periods coming, or those allergies I had before."

"Oh, okay. Do you want to call it an early night?"

Penny now felt bad for another reason, her friends were having fun and she was ruining it for them, it was selfish and she didn't want to be that way. "No, I should be okay for a while, just give me a minute." Penny quickly got out her compact, luckily she wasn't wearing much make up, so it only took her a few seconds to fix her face, from a couple tears that had fell down her cheeks. She left the stall and looked at her friend a small forced smile on her face, "Okay, I'm ready lets go back." Katie just nodded while watching her friend suspiciously.

They had played two slow songs in a row, so Bernadette and Leonard were just walking back to the table when Penny and Katie rejoined the group. Penny couldn't help the hurt feeling while she watched Bernadette hang on Leonard's arm and smile up at him while they talked, Leonard's return smile just making that feeling worse. The rest of the night Bernadette kept Leonard occupied, making him dance with her and keeping his attention all night. The two guys that first asked Amy and Katie to dance stayed with them all night, buying them drinks and keeping them entertained. Penny was hit on by several guys, dancing with a couple of them and trying to be interested in what they were saying to her while she drank, drank a lot.

That night they were all having fun and feeling good, except Penny who slowly got drunk, the girls and Leonard having to get Penny home after a while, her being too drunk to take care of herself. Leonard felt sorry for her, she was going to sick tomorrow and he wondered why she had drinking so much, her friends seemed to be having such a good time. He had noticed the guys flocking around her all night and when you looked at the guys who wanted her, really all the girls, it confused him why she seemed to drink so much. However, he quickly put it out of his mind as he helped the girls with her, he had been trying to get to know Bernadette better that whole night, so he probably missed what all happened with her anyway.

Penny was miserable in the morning, and spent the first hour of her waking time in the bathroom throwing up. The girls gave her aspirin and water, to help her, but Penny mostly stayed in her room that day, moaning for them to put her out of her misery. Because of her condition the girls stayed around the beach house all day, only going out to get food, Leonard taking them to the best market in town. Leonard grilled them burgers for dinner on the outdoor grill and the day turned out to be both lazy and relaxing for them all.

Katie was amazed at how easy it was to be around Leonard, he was extremely pleasant, interesting and he didn't act like he was king stud, like a lot of guys did when surrounded by all girls. He was really nice and she had to admit she enjoyed him being around and she could tell Amy did too. They had only know him for less than two days but she had to admit he was their friend now and it seemed so natural that he was part of the group already. However, Bernadette and Penny were a different story, neither looked at him as just a friend, Katie observed, and she hoped something got settled between them before there was a conflict between them.

Leonard hung around after dinner, into the evening mostly sitting on the deck and talking to Bernadette and Amy about his work. Also, Penny finally came out of her room and joined her friends shortly after the sun went down and the temperature went down a little. Penny was still hurting so she just sat down on a deck chair, a cold bottle of water against her forehead, attempting to feel a little better, while she listened to her friends.

"Back with the living, Penny?" Katie teased

"Shut up." Penny responded, making everyone laugh.

"How did you drink so much in such a short time?" Amy asked.

"I don't want to talk about drinking. I still haven't decided if I want to go on living." Penny told her.

Leonard was just watching the banter between the girls, making him realize what good friends they were. He watched as Penny laid there talking with her eyes closed and the cold bottle against her forehead as her friends teased her without mercy. He really enjoyed just being there with them, it was comfortable and such a friendly atmosphere, plus what guy wouldn't like sitting around talking to a bunch of hot girls. Especially with a cute blonde pressed up tight against him right now in the large deck chair they were in. However as he listened to the conversation, it was hard to ignore Bernadette next to him, she was so distracting and if he was honest with himself he couldn't believe some one so pretty and nice wanted anything to do with him.

Katie had been watching Bernadette who was being so obvious, she wondered why she didn't just take Leonard into her bedroom and screw his brains out. However she reminded herself this was Bernadette, not her, so that probably wasn't an option for Bernadette right now. She also watched Penny, who had looked at Leonard when she came out with them and would open her eyes every so often to look his way. But Leonard was the one who confused her most, Katie truly believed he didn't understand what Bernadette wanted with him and that Penny was interested in him too. He seemed clueless to what was going around him and Katie didn't know if that was cute or aggravating that he just didn't understand he needed to make a decision.

"Well it's late and I have to get up early to work tomorrow, so I'll get going. Thanks for letting me visit." The girls all telling him goodbye, as Leonard got up to head down to his place.

Katie watch the frown form on Bernadette's face, and then saw Penny open her eyes to look at him, "Leonard, you are always welcome, just come by anytime you want." Katie blurted out, watching both Bernadette and Penny smile and nod, obviously agreeing to Katie's invitation.

Leonard smiled, "Thanks, Goodnight everyone." He then went down the stairs to the beach and home.

The next morning Katie watched as Bernadette waited on the beach for Leonard to walk by, to his instrumentation, then went out to the beach to go with him, while Penny sat on the deck watching the whole thing. Penny was feeling much better this morning, she had bagels and coffee already and her color was back. However, when Penny came back into the house, Katie could see Penny was deep in thought, making Katie shake her head, it was obviously Leonard on her mind.

When Leonard and Bernadette returned, it was about lunch time, so they all went to lunch, which Katie felt was a little awkward, but they all still talked and since Leonard asked them if they wanted to do something fun after lunch, there was some excitement to find out what it was. The other thing that intrigued them was that Leonard asked them how well they could swim and told them to bring bathing suits, that were not too skimpy, which also peaked their curiosity. That alone saved lunch as all of them, including Penny, tried to get Leonard to give them hints about the big fun surprise.

It was a surprise and it turned out to be a lot of fun, Leonard brought them to a place that rented personal watercraft, and after a short course, all five of them were zipping through the sea on a watercraft all afternoon. This taught Katie another thing about Leonard too, he respected them as people and not just women, he never thought of any them riding on the back of his craft, he wanted them all to have their own and have fun, enjoying doing what they wanted. It was fun too, they chased each other, played made up games, raced, and had a general great afternoon. By the time they finally turned their craft back in, they were all laughing and acting nutty, tired and even though they put on sun screen still a little sun burnt. Leonard then surprised them again, by having spray on sun burn reliever, spraying all their backs so none of them would be uncomfortable.

The ride back was even fun, Leonard had driven them all there, since he had a big SUV, and the girls while riding back, all talking about their afternoon. Listening to them made Leonard laugh as they argued who was a better driver and who did what to who that afternoon. They sounded more like a bunch of guys the way they were acting. "What's so funny Hofstadter?" Katie said with a big smile.

Leonard chuckled, "If you didn't all sound like girls, I would swear the truck was filled with guys."

Katie smiled and tapped both Amy and Penny, then all three of them leaned on the back of the front seat making sure their cleavage showed quite visibly. "You sure about that Hofstadter."

Leonard looked in the mirror, then quickly turned his head for a second, blushing, "I stand corrected. You guys would never be mistaken for men."

"Where are you taking us to eat." Bernadette asked as she slid closer to Leonard in the front seat. Since the other three girls were sitting side by side in the back seat, Katie actually felt Penny tense as Bernadette pushed herself close to Leonard.

"Yeah Leonard you going to wow us again?" Katie then nudged Penny, she tended to clam up when she got upset, so Katie wanted her to open up more, before she got herself too depressed again. Katie looked at her, "I'm hungry, how about you?"

Penny stared at her for a second confused. "I guess I'm hungry. This afternoon was really something, I guess I'm really starved."

"Me too, Leonard what made you decide on this afternoons adventure?" Amy now leaned forward on the back of the front seat, waiting for his response.

"Okay, I'll tell you if you promise not to get mad."

"Nope, no promises." Katie smiled, then looked at Penny.

"Katie's right, Leonard, if you screw up, you're on your own." Penny supported her friend and teasing Leonard was actually fun.

"I will agree with my friends, tread lightly Dr Hofstadter." Amy added.

Leonard looked down at Bernadette who shook her head, "Really, you're going to desert me too?"

"Sorry they're my friends." Bernadette gave him a small smile.

Penny couldn't help herself, teasing was flirting and she so desperately wanted to flirt with him. "Spill it Leonard."

Leonard applied the brakes and pulled into the restaurant parking lot, "We're here." he sighed in relief.

"Oh you are so on the edge of getting in trouble Hofstadter." Katie said seriously, which got nods from all the girls who then started giggling.

Bernadette then looked at the halter and shorts she was wearing, "Are we dressed okay, we look like we just came off the beach."

"That's because we did." Amy added.

"No this place isn't fancy, you can eat here in you bathing suit if you want." Leonard explained.

"I always wanted to eat in my bathing suit." Penny blurted out, getting a surprised look from Katie.

Leonard didn't really think, he just chuckled, "Yeah but then no one else would be able to eat." Making Penny blush at the complement. He then realized what he said was only to Penny, "I think if you girls showed up in bikinis, they would have to close the place down." Now all the girls smiled, he had just told them they were all pretty and they all appreciated the complement.

They all got out of the SUV and started to walk to the restaurant. "So why here? What is special about this place?" Katie inquired.

"You guys seem to have a lot of faith in me, thinking I take you special places all the time." Leonard chuckled.

Leonard looked at Katie as he spoke and Penny was right next to her looking at him, their eyes locked for a couple of seconds and Leonard found himself tongue tied. "Um…..this place has the best fish in Jamaica, they season it a little spicy, but it is really great and it is so fresh, they actually catch it the same day they serve it." He blurted out, unable to think of anything else.

"Really that sounds great." Amy remarked, "I love spicy food."

"It is not too spicy, just enough." Leonard added. "But this place is very casual, so you get fries and a salad with your meal, don't expect anything else." he shrugged.

Penny smiled at him. "Fish, fries and salad, sounds perfect."

Katie looked at Penny, knowing she did not mean the food was perfect.

The evening turned out perfect, everyone having a great time, and it was past nine o'clock when they all finally succumbed to exhaustion from the day in the sun and everything they did. Leonard got them all back to their rental and was about to leave when Bernadette came up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Leonard."

Katie saw Penny tense up again and decided to give Penny a chance to kiss Leonard too, as she walked over to him and put a kiss on his cheek. "Yeah, thanks Leonard."

Amy then followed, kissing Leonard on the cheek, "It was fun thank you."

Penny then walked over looking at Leonard, a little smile on her face as she leaned over and gave Leonard a kiss on his cheek, "Thank you Sweetie." She then leaned away but not before locking eyes with him for a couple of seconds.

Katie looked quickly at Bernadette, but she was still smiling, and Katie realized she didn't see the look Penny gave Leonard, which made her sigh in relief. Katie didn't like the triangle she was seeing forming between her friends, they were her friends and she didn't want them fighting over a guy. She waved with the other three girls as a blushing Leonard walked back to the SUV and left for the night, the girls closing the door as the SUV started to drive away.

The girls all walked back to their rooms to get ready, all of them really tired, but Katie followed Penny back into her room. "Penny what are you doing?"

Penny looked at her, not saying anything for a couple moments, "I don't understand what you mean."

"I've know you for a lot of years, you know exactly what a mean." Katie came back with.

Penny looked like she was going to argue, but then sighed. "I like him. I like him a lot."

"Yeah I see that, but so does Bernadette and she had sort of claimed him, surely you see that." Katie tried to reason with her.

Penny just stared at her, thinking, "Okay, you're right."

Katie nodded. "Okay, see you tomorrow" she left Penny's room and closed the door, standing outside the now closed door for a couple of minutes, until she heard the muffled crying of Penny. Katie shook her head, this whole trip was not turning out well, not like she planned, only a couple days into it and Penny's heart was broken again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Suppressed Feelings**

The routine started after that, Bernadette would meet Leonard on the beach each morning, as he walked to his equipment, then would bring him back to the girls beach house on the way back. He even began to leave his laptop there some, so he could sit and put data into it, then send it to his fellow researchers, as the girls got ready for whatever they or he had planned for them all that day. It was really nice for Leonard because Bernadette wanted him there and the rest of the girls were happy to have him, too. Leonard had become not only their friend, but now he was also their tour guide for everything they wanted to see on the island. The next six days wound up being one day going somewhere either interesting or exciting with Leonard, then hitting the club at night, the next day usually recovering or in the case of Katie and Amy, one morning, sleeping late with some guys they met.

However, what was the routine for Katie and Amy, was a different routine for Penny and Bernadette. Penny would dance with guys at the clubs, they went to, but would never even accept any guys advances and never brought one back to her bed. Bernadette stayed with Leonard at the clubs, but always slept alone when Leonard went home every night. Bernadette was not as casual with guys, like Katie, when it came to sex, and Leonard didn't even approach the issue with her, him just enjoying his time with the girls, not really wanting to do anything that would ruin his friendship with them all. Penny also just tried to be a friend to Leonard and Bernadette, while trying not to be upset every time she had to watch Bernadette kiss or hold Leonard. It would have been torture for Penny, if she didn't enjoy it so much when he was around, allowing her to talk and tease him just as much as the other girls did.

So after the girls only being 10 days there, it was now the five of them and the girls were having the times of their lives, that was except for Penny. It wasn't that she wasn't still having fun, because to be honest, just being around Leonard made her happy, it was that she just wanted so much more. The girls had gotten so friendly with him, it had allowed her to kiss his cheek and hug him some when the other girls did, however it only seemed to drive up her desire for him, making her wish she was the one cozying up to him. It became more and more difficult for her to watch how Bernadette claimed the passenger seat next to him whenever he drove anywhere in his large SUV or stayed by his side when they did anything.

Like right now, while they were all on a rafting trip, seeing the sights, each raft holding two to three people. Penny was having trouble looking at any of the sights though because of the sight in front of her, a raft with Leonard and Bernadette in it and seeing them laughing was seriously depressing to her. What made things worse was that he had his arm on the back of the seat, they were in, and Bernadette was taking full advantage of it being pressed in close to him. Penny convincing herself that she saw Bernadette actually wiggling a little too much to rub herself against him, in a way that Penny just could not stand. It just reminded Penny of a dog in heat, Bernadette's body contact with Leonard, her jealous mind getting more and more upset as the raft trip continued.

"Having fun?" Katie whispered to Penny.

"Yeah." Penny curtly answered.

"Good, lucky you can't kill people with your eyes, poor Bernadette would be a goner." Katie added.

Penny now looked at Katie in surprise, "Umm….I'm not upset."

"Who asked if you were upset." Katie knew she had her now.

"Umm…..I just wanted to put that out there in case it came up." Penny knew it was a ridiculous response, but she couldn't think of anything else.

"Isn't it better she is right in front of you so you can see what she is doing with him, instead of imagining the worst in your mind?"

Penny slowly nodded, "Yeah, you're right."

"Then this isn't really that bad, is it?" Katie tried to reason with her.

"No, it's not."

"Penny we are all going to be together today, like we were the last time and the time before, you are with him as much as she is, she just gets to be a little closer." Katie was giving up on any hope that Penny was going to let Bernadette just have Leonard.

"Until she sleeps with him." Penny said under her breath.

"Penny when is the last time we saw Bernadette sleep with a guy she only has known for a week or two?" Katie hoped this realization would help her friend.

"Never." Penny quietly answered.

"See you don't have to worry." Katie felt satisfied as she hoped this would calm Penny down.

"He is so cute and nice, she is probably just waiting for him to make the move, I know I would be in his bed in a minute if he wanted me." Penny now said.

'Crap' Katie thought, Penny had it bad, she had never seen her crush on a guy so bad. She acted like she was there for Leonard's taking, all he had to do was take her into the bedroom and she was his. Katie had to think this was part of the rebound process from her last relationship, she was falling too hard, but then Katie had never seen her so intense before. Katie shook her head, there was no way Penny was going to give up on Leonard, so Katie was just going to have to try and keep Bernadette and Penny from killing each other. She thought, 'there went her vacation is paradise'. "Well you are not Bernadette so stop watching them and look at the other sights." Katie tersely whispered to Penny.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

That evening they went to the club again, only this time Katie decided to do something, to give Penny a little time close to Leonard. Things had been so bad that afternoon Katie thought if she didn't relieve some of the pressure soon someone was going to explode, as she looked at Penny. Therefore, as soon as they all sat down, Katie jumped up and went to Leonard, grabbing his hand. "Come on Leonard, I haven't danced with you yet, since we met you, and I want to know what I'm missing."

Leonard followed her like a confused puppy dog and Katie kept him out there for two songs, actually it had been fun after he loosened up about mid way through the first song. When they got back to the table, they had ordered drinks but after they had a little of their drinks, Bernadette took Leonard out to the dance floor. Katie then put her plan into action, "Leonard is really a good dancer, it is such a shame these guys around here, don't think he is good enough for us." Katie then watched Penny's eyes go wider and nose flair, obvious getting slightly agitated that people would treat Leonard wrongly.

Amy took the bait, "That really sucks, Leonard is a great guy, any girl would be lucky to have him." Katie then watched Penny calm down and nod to Amy's remarks, the hook was set.

Bernadette came back a couple songs later, but before Leonard could sit down, Amy grabbed his had, "Leonard would you dance with me?" A surprised Leonard just nodding his head.

Amy danced with Leonard for three songs, while the girls sat at the table repeatedly telling guys they didn't want to dance, making themselves look like they all belonged to Leonard. It was easy for Penny and Bernadette to do, but made Katie sigh at some of the hunks that she had to turn down. Amy and Leonard finally returned laughing, obviously from having a good time and then they all sat for a few minutes to drink some of their drinks and cool down. It was obvious what was suppose to happen next, all the girls had danced with Leonard except Penny, it was her turn next, and even Bernadette knew to wait till Penny had her turn. However, Penny was trying to time the songs and figure out the pattern they were being played at, then when she thought she had it, she grabbed Leonard's hand. "I'm the only one you haven't danced with, you making me seem like a wallflower." Penny then gave him her most adorable pout.

"No….I mean of course, I want to dance with you." Leonard stuttered out.

Penny smiled, "Okay Sweetie, dance my socks off." Penny then pulled him out on the floor with her.

The girls all sat and downed some of their drinks, Katie more than pleased with herself that she got it so Penny could dance with Leonard and not mope all night. However when the second song started to play, Katie eyes shot wide as she looked at Bernadette who was now completely interested in what was happening on the dance floor. Katie also turned her head to look at the dance floor, to see the worst possible scenario, the song was a slow romantic song and Penny was pulled tight against Leonard, her head on his shoulder and a small content smile on her face. Katie had hoped to do this once or twice more this evening to allow Penny to dance with Leonard, to keep her happy, but Penny was proving too smart to not take advantage of the situation, Katie now had to admit.

Sitting through the slow song and watching Bernadette stare at the dance floor the whole time was bad enough, but then things got worse. The next song was another slow song and Penny still had Leonard out on the dance floor with her, making Bernadette now fidget in her seat. Katie looked at them again and swore Penny was even closer to Leonard than before, like that was even possible, every time they turned that same content smile on her face. Looking back at Bernadette, Katie swore she saw steam coming out of her ears and she hoped Penny had the sense to not stay out there for another song before they had a girl fight in the middle of the dance floor.

Thankfully Penny brought him back after that dance, both of them have small smiles on their faces and Katie noticing Penny's eyes dilated, which she hoped Bernadette didn't notice. Bernadette didn't because she was too busy getting Leonard seated next to her, then scooting as close to him as possible, Katie thinking if she got any closer she would be in his lap all night. Katie hoped they dodged a bullet until Bernadette got Leonard settled where she wanted him and then glared at all the other girls, making it obvious no one was dancing with Leonard again that night but her.

It was a few minutes later that Katie and Penny went to the women's room together and after relieving themselves they were both in front of the mirror checking their makeup. "Thanks Katie."

Katie was going to say for what, but she knew exactly what Penny was thanking her for. "Your welcome, but you sure took advantage of the situation."

Penny turned to Katie and smiled, a dreamy look in her eyes, "Yeah, I did. But did you feel how good it was to be held by him or how good he smelled."

"No, because I just danced with him, not dry humped him on the dance floor." Katie replied not even hiding the sarcastic tone in her response.

"Only during the second slow dance." Penny smiled back at her.

"WHAT! What did you say? Penny you didn't. Did he know you were doing it? Oh My God Penny." Katie was in shock.

Penny shook her head, "I didn't exactly dry hump him, I just sort of rubbed against him a little during the second slow song. After dancing with him the first slow song, I couldn't let him go, so I sort of got carried away. I don't think he noticed what I was doing. If the next song was a slow song, I probably would have been out their longer, and…." A smile formed on her lips.

'No you wouldn't' Katie thought, 'Bernadette would have drug you both off the floor, well at least Leonard', Katie sighed. "This is far from over between you and Leonard, isn't it?"

Penny looked down at her hands, "I can't just let him go, I would always wonder."

Katie shook her head, "What about Bernadette, we talked about this before."

"What if he is suppose to be with me, not her. If I just give up and let her have him, I could loose the chance to be with my soul mate." Penny tried to reason with her.

"Soul mate? Are you listening to yourself, you have only known him less than two weeks, and haven't even dated him yet." Katie was incredulous.

"He has taken us several places that would be dates if one of us was alone with him, don't those count as dates? I mean isn't that the purpose of a date, to have fun together and learn about the other person. Didn't we do that with him, didn't you have fun and learn more about him." Penny reasoned to her.

Katie thought for a couple seconds, by definition they were like dates, but. "But Penny he was with four of us, that can't count, plus we didn't sleep with him."

"So, Katie you just don't want to admit you went on a date with a guy and three other girls." Penny giggled, "But if you think we need to sleep with him, to make it a real date, I'm game." Penny then wiggled her eyebrows in jest, even though she meant every word she said.

Katie looked at Penny is mild surprise, she was not use to her being like this, "You would just drop your panties for him if he asked you, wouldn't you?"

Penny blushed, "Well we are past the mandatory three dates for sleeping with a guy."

"Damm Penny." Katie shook her head, "Damm."

The rest of the evening, to Katie's surprise turned out okay, her and Amy able to dance with any stud that asked them and Penny even dancing with a few guys, only for one dance each, no slow dances, and she never brought the guy back to the table after dancing with him. Instead Penny got Leonard to talk about his work and life, while both her and Bernadette listened intently to his every word. Considering Penny seemed content and there was no blood spilled, Katie chalked the whole night off as a big success, especially after she snagged the big stud she decided she was bringing back to beach house tonight.

The ride back to the beach house was frustrating for Penny, riding in the middle row of the SUV, while Bernadette did everything but sit in Leonard's lap as he drove. It was even worse that Katie and her guy were obviously fooling around in the third row seat behind her, Katie having drunk too much that night and her soft moans, while they rode, making Penny extremely uncomfortable. Penny almost said something, when they finally stopped in front of the beach house, after hearing Katie's pant's snaps being redone and her belt being fixed before her and her stud got out of the SUV.

Getting into the house didn't help things, Amy had left early with a guy she hooked up with and now they could hear the squeaking of a bed, in a high state of use, in her room. Penny, Bernadette and Leonard blushed while Katie and her guy just gave each other wicked smiles, Katie immediately grabbing his hand and leading him to her bedroom. Penny sighed, but soon became scared as she saw the expression on Bernadette's face, the expression that made her worse fears surface. Penny could see both lust and confusion on Bernadette's face as she looked at Leonard and it was only because Leonard was a little embarrassed and looking away that he didn't see it too. Bernadette was thinking of asking him to stay, in her room, and Penny just wanted to scream and chase him away before any words came out of Bernadette's mouth.

It was Leonard that saved them from a confrontation that night, "Well I have to get going. I need to get up early to get the data and send it because I have an afternoon Skype session with the team tomorrow afternoon." he explained then looked at them with pleading eyes, "We could all go to dinner tomorrow night if you like?"

A smile quickly formed on Bernadette's face, partly because she wanted to see him tomorrow and partly because he solved a difficult decision she was having right then. "That would be great, see you tomorrow."

Penny just nodded, extreme relief coursing through her body, knowing Leonard would not be making love to one of her best friends that night. "Take care Leonard, see you tomorrow." she barely got out, watching Bernadette give Leonard a kiss then close the door behind him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The next morning found them all recovering from last night, well mostly Katie recovering, since the other girls didn't get drunk, just her. They all got up late and everything was find until the stud Katie brought back tried to corner Penny in the kitchen for a quickie. It all ended badly because after that there was a lot of screaming and a half dressed stud limping out the beach house, holding his jewels while huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath. Amy's guy left shortly afterwards after getting her to agree to have dinner with him that night. A pissed off Penny and a frustrated Bernadette pretty much kept to themselves the whole afternoon until Leonard, who had Skype session with the team back in England that afternoon, finally came over to take them all to dinner.

Leonard was pretty happy until Bernadette let him into the beach house to the sight of three obviously upset girls, none of them talking but glares being thrown between them. He really felt something was seriously wrong, but had no idea what, luckily a smiling Amy came out of her room a moment later. "Hi Leonard, taking all the sour pusses to dinner."

"I think so, did I do something." he said softly to Amy.

Amy laughed, immediately getting glares from the girls, "No, you did nothing, Penny is pissed because the slime ball that Katie brought home last night tried to do her in the kitchen without even asking. Bernadette is pissed at Katie about the guy too, plus I think mother nature came to her this morning."

"Shut up Amy." Bernadette responded.

Amy giggled, then smiled at Leonard, "Katie still has a mild drinking headache and is mad at Penny and Bernadette, because they are mad at her."

"Oh" Leonard said after Amy finished, "Then why are you so happy."

"I have a date, so I get to dump these three on you while I have fun." Amy said with a big smile. She then gave Leonard a kiss on the cheek while practically skipping out the front door to the car that was already waiting for her.

"Umm, are you guys hungry?" Leonard said cautiously.

"I could eat." Penny then got up from the chair, she was in, and walked to the door, she had actually been feeling better since Leonard arrived, him being there making the day for her seem a whole lot better. As she was about to walk by him to the door she stopped, looked at him a second then licked her finger, which she them rubbed on Leonard's cheek for a couple seconds, before turning back to Bernadette. "Amy's lipstick." She then proceeded out the door.

Bernadette didn't like how Penny touched Leonard, even if it was just to clean his face, she should have been the one to do that. The trip to the restaurant remained quiet except for an occasional remark to Katie who would come back sarcastically immediately. It soon became clear to Leonard they weren't actually being mad at each other, but were aggravated and moody, their friendship too strong to make even this discontentment something that would last long. They decided to eat at the place Leonard first met them, because the food was good and the place was quiet, something Katie appreciated with her lingering headache.

"Leonard, I see you are still a ladies man. But you seem to be one short." Martha teased him, seeing a cute blush on his face.

"No, that's not what's happening, we are all friends." Leonard stammered out, trying not to get the girls even more upset about what she said.

However, Katie needed a distraction and was feeling wicked, so she immediately formed a little pout on her lips, "Oh Honey, that is not what you told us in bed this morning." while she reached across the table to grab his hand.

Penny who always looked for any excuse to touch Leonard, was sitting right next to him and reached over to hang on his arm her head on his shoulder, "Sweetie you told me I was the best after we made love." A little pout on her face too.

Bernadette at first was shocked and mad, until she realized they were teasing the waitress that embarrassed Leonard, so she hug on his other arm and put her head near his chest, then is a loud whisper, just so the waitress could hear. "Darling you promised to satisfy me all night after we were done eating. I was going to be your desert." A small pout on her face too.

Martha just stood there stunned, her eyes wide as all three girls seemed to be caressing Leonard intimately. "Umm…..I get you all waters, and let you look at the menus." Quickly walking away while the three girls still held Leonard.

Since her back was to where the Waitress left, Katie was the first one to speak, "Is she gone?"

Bernadette nodded, "She went into the kitchen."

"Did you see her face!" Katie giggled as she let Leonard have his hand back.

Bernadette sat back up and giggled too, "Sure surprised her."

Penny lifted of Leonard last, slowly as she ran her hands down his arm, getting his attention as he just stared into her eyes. The moment only lasted a second, but Penny felt there was something that passed between them, because she almost felt the sharp intake of air he took when their eyes first met. When Penny looked back at her friends, happily Bernadette had turned to say something to Leonard, however Katie was looking directly at her, shaking her head.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - Loosing Her**

Parasailing, the next day, turned out to be even more fun than Leonard had described and since none of them had ever done it before, it was new and a real thrill. Since Katie was over her hangover and the girls seemed to have gotten over the little aggravation between them, they now all happily spent the whole afternoon in the rented boat. The parasail itself was made for two people, which initially caused a little problem because there were the four girls and Leonard, an uneven number. However Leonard quickly did the math and scheduled each ride so they all got an even number of rides, though not with the same person every time. It was towards the end of their afternoon that Penny finally got to go up with Leonard, she had been thinking about it the last half hour, as soon as she realized she would ride with him before they were done.

Penny couldn't help feeling giddy as her and Leonard soared through the air, they laughed together and yelled funny things to each other while they enjoyed the adventure. Another thing that Penny enjoyed was that they were so close and they kept rubbing against each other every time the parasail turned or did some movement due to the wind. It was really bittersweet, rubbing against Leonard seemed to send jolts of electricity through her and although she loved it, it only made her feel worse that he was not with her instead of Bernadette.

The wind had been getting higher as the afternoon progressed so the ride Leonard and Penny were on was a little bumpier than it had been earlier, but still enjoyable. However that soon changed as a strong gust hit them pushing them up about 15 feet then dropping them another 10, surprising them and breaking the strap mounting piece that was holding Penny up in the seat. Suddenly Penny was not being held up anymore by the seat and as she started to slip through the harness she screamed, trying to grab a hold of anything she could.

Penny probably would have been able to catch herself, she was a strong girl and had quick reflexes from exercising regularly, but that wasn't the case today. Leonard turned to look at her after hearing the noise from the mounting piece snap and then her resultant scream, seeing the terror in her eyes, it creating terror in him. Leonard reacted immediately his brain dumping adrenaline throughout his body, as the only thing it could think about now was saving Penny. He leaned over in a flash, wrapping his arms around Penny, just under her arms, then with strength fed by fear, pulled her tight against him, his mind and body determined not to let her go.

For Penny it happened fast, one moment she was slipping through the harness trying to grab something, the next she was securely being held by Leonard, her head on his shoulder her arms around his neck. It only took Penny a second to know she was safe, wrapped tightly in Leonard's arms, she knew he would never let her go, she knew it in her soul. Penny closed her eyes and pulled herself a little tighter to him, feeling the comforting sensation of him doing the same, with all that had happened in less than minute, she couldn't help the feeling of being more safe and secure than she had ever felt in her life.

Penny and Leonard just held tightly to each other, while the worried boat crew reeled the parasail back onto the boat, everyone on the boat had watched the equipment malfunction in horror. The crew worked quickly and soon Leonard and Penny where standing back on the boat, both still holding tight to each other for a few moments until they finally, almost reluctantly, let go and just stood there looking into each others eyes. Penny just stared at the man who rescued her, she was already attracted to him, but now she absolutely adored him, he was her white knight, her prince and she even felt she was falling hopelessly for him.

Leonard looked at her, his body finally coming down from the adrenaline burst, that filled him when he thought he would loose her. It was at that moment that he realized that loosing her was something he could never let happen as long as he was alive. Therefore a couple more moments passed silently before Leonard realized everyone was staring at them, he had been so taken by Penny's eyes on him and as he tried to control his emotions, he said the only thing that came to his mind. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

Penny gave a little head shake, not exactly to answer him, but to clear her head from its trance it was in from looking at him. "No, I think I'm fine…..Thank You Leonard." Penny then just let her heart have its way as she took a step back towards him and kissed his cheek, barely forcibly keeping herself from kissing him on the lips like she really desired.

Leonard looked at her as she pulled away, a look of surprise and happiness on his face, but then his features hardened as he turned and looked at the owner of the boat. In that moment he changed as now Leonard's mind was filled with rage, "How in the hell did that happen!" he accused the man, "Penny almost fell, what is wrong with you people." The owner stepped back, fear on his face, Leonard looked like he wanted to kill him.

Bernadette, Katie and Amy watched as Leonard yelled at the boat owner and the two crew men, everyone of them backing away from him, at least out of range of his arms, obviously thinking he was going to start swinging at them any moment. Bernadette quickly walked up to him grabbing his arm and trying to calm him. "Leonard, it's okay, everything is okay now, no one is hurt." Bernadette then watched as the anger on his face turned to sorrow as he turned to look down at her, "I'm sorry." he said quietly to her.

Leonard then looked at Penny, she had not moved from her spot, everything happening around her seeming so surreal to her, her mind still trying to process feelings that had her confused. It was then again Leonard looked into her eyes, as he told her, "I'm sorry" his eyes looking so full of pain that Penny could feel in her heart. However that look only lasted a moment, and was over, when Leonard finally turned to Katie and Amy, "I'm sorry." Leonard then looked down at the boat deck and seemed to shrink before their very eyes as he turned to quietly walk into the boat cabin, Bernadette following him, holding on to his arm.

Katie, Amy and the boat crew all looked at each other, the boat owner finally speaking to all of them, "I'm really sorry." then he turned to Penny. "Please accept my apology, I will return all your money immediately."

However Penny was still watching the door to the cabin, that Leonard had gone through, she only wanted to run after him and hold him. She knew in her heart his anger was because something was going on between them, and she just wanted to be with him, it just wasn't fair, not fair at all. The need to go to him was driving her crazy and her mind screaming to go to him was driving every one of her thoughts. The only thing that stopped Penny and broke through those thoughts was when she felt her friends hug her and ask her if she was okay, making her have to think about what was going around her, instead of her need to be with Leonard. It felt like a cold wet slap, dragging her back to the real situation she was in and it made her just want to go back to the rental, get in bed and cry her eyes out. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can we just go back to the beach house now, I'm sort of exhausted." Her voice was mechanical, because she felt no emotion other than loss.

"I'll get you all back to shore as quick as I can." the owner stated as he gave directions to his crew to get the boat headed back.

The girls sat at the back of the boat as it headed to shore, Amy and Katie on either side of Penny rubbing her back, both thinking she was still stressed from the accident. Penny continued to sit quietly with them, not thinking of the accident, but really thinking of Leonard in the cabin, wishing he would come out and take her into his arms, or even just talk to her, anything but being in there with Bernadette comforting him instead of her. Their reaching the dock and the boat coming to a halt was a surprise to her, however, that surprise became painful a moment later as Leonard came out of the cabin with Bernadette holding him tight.

The drive back to the beach houses was extremely quiet, they had taken the girls car, so Katie was driving while Amy sat in the back with Leonard and Bernadette. Penny had to control herself from looking back at them, while she knew Bernadette was holding him just a couple feet behind her. Again her thoughts were so mixed up that she was surprised that they arrived at Leonard's beach house and she watched in despair as Bernadette got out of the car with Leonard.

Leonard was an emotion mess feeling foolish, stupid and extremely bad about his outburst, so no sooner than he got out of the car, he turned to apologize again to the girls, "I'm really sorry. I really mean it. I should have not taken you to that place, I didn't know they would be so careless." Leonard then looked at Penny "I feel terrible, you almost got hurt Penny, I'm so very sorry."

Penny looked at Leonard and again saw the sadness in his eyes, and it took everything she had not to get out of the car and hug him. "That's okay Leonard, I'm fine, you saved me. Thank You." She continued to look into his eyes, seeing him staring back at her for that long moment, it made feelings again stir inside her she couldn't and wouldn't deny.

Leonard finally broke their moment as he nodded, then turned to look again at them all, "Thank You, but I'm still sorry." He then stood back up and headed to his house, Bernadette going with him, her arms wrapped around his arm. It was obvious to the girls that she would be spending the night with him. The only thing keeping Penny from completely going over the edge, the knowledge Bernadette would not be having sex with him that night.

The short trip to their beach house seemed too long and once inside, Penny turned down having some wine with her friends, saying she was tired from the stressful day and just wanted to go to bed. Closing the door to her room finally gave her some solitude, the held back tears starting immediately to run down her cheeks, as silent sobs racked her whole body. She threw herself on her bed and cried into her pillows so no one would hear, she had never felt so empty and alone before in her life. She couldn't get the thought out of her mind, on how it should be her there now with Leonard, talking and comforting each other. They were the ones that it happened to, not Bernadette, and as she thought more of it, it only drove her more into despair, finally falling asleep after she cried herself to exhaustion.

Bernadette, that night, sat in the twin rocker, cuddled up under Leonard's arm while they both watched the ocean from the outside porch of his beach house. Bernadette had only known him for about two weeks but she felt so good with him in that short time, he was cute, sexy, very nice and extremely smart, he was the kind of guy a girl dreamed of marrying, some one she could trust and would respect her. These feelings she had made her feel especially bad for him right now, something was bothering him and she so wanted to help. "Honey, is there anything I can do to help. Do you want to talk about it."

Leonard's had been going over the day, over and over in his mind, and how he almost lost Penny. He could still see her scared eyes and the terror that ran though him as he watched her slowly slip away, knowing he would die if anything happened to her. Then when he had her in his arms he didn't ever want to let her go, and it took all his willpower to release her when they finally landed back on the boat. For a moment he really did want to kill those men for ever putting her life at risk, he was so angry, it even scared himself how his emotions overtook his control. But now Bernadette's words made new feelings boil up in him as he looked at her, guilt now taking hold of him. Bernadette was beautiful, smart and so very nice, and he felt like he was cheating on her, even for just thinking about Penny. "Bernie, I'm really sorry for how I acted, that is not really me, but…..the whole thing scared me. I brought you guys there and anyone of you could have been in that sling when it broke and it would have been all my fault."

"Leonard, it is not your fault, please understand that. I haven't know you too long, but even I can see you try to protect everyone around you, it is very sweet Honey, but you can't protect everyone, it will destroy you." Bernadette now put her hand on his cheek, then gave him a small kiss, slowly then moving away to talk. "Honey, remember no one got hurt. You saved Penny, you did protect her, so nothing was your fault."

Leonard looked down at Bernadette, his eyes were a little wet, the thing that had been on his mind all day since the accident coming out without his control. "But what if I wasn't up there with her then? What if it was one of you girls and it broke, what would have happened then, who would have saved her?" Leonard then stood suddenly up, leaving the porch and heading down to the beach, stopping a few feet away from the moving surf, he was suddenly so depressed and he didn't know how to make it go away. The image of Penny falling away from the harness in his mind, the crushing feeling in his heart that image gave him and the realization that he had feelings for her, that he never really understood before.

As the seconds passed, Leonard felt Bernadette's arms wrap around his waist and then he felt her head lay against his back as she held him. Her touch did make him relax and her soft sweet voice did soothe his heart. "Honey you had a bad day, why don't we go to sleep early, you need to relax and get this day over. Tomorrow will be better, I promise."

A sad chuckle came out of Leonard, "You Promise." He didn't know how tomorrow could be better, he cared for the beautiful young woman that was holding him, but now he knew he also cared for her best friend and there was something about Penny he couldn't even explain to himself.

Bernadette moved around in front of him, laying her head on his chest, "I promise, Honey." Then she stepped back from him and took his hand to lead him back to the beach house to the bed they were going to share. That night Bernadette fell asleep tightly wrapped in Leonard's arms, his face in her hair while he spooned her, as he hoped beyond hope that things would be better tomorrow, just like she promised. However, even though he was holding Bernadette, and he thought the world about her, he couldn't help the thoughts of Penny that keep invading his mind.

The next two days, the girls hardly saw anything of Bernadette and nothing of Leonard, Bernadette was practically living with Leonard since the day of the accident. It was during those days it felt like Leonard didn't exist anymore, and the huge hole Penny felt in her heart during that time was overwhelming. At first she wanted to hold him, but as the first day led to the second, she just wanted to see him again, if just for a few moments. Penny had to go into full acting mode to cope, she made herself be happy Penny to her friends, it was the only way she could survive when Amy made jokes about all the sex Bernadette and Leonard were having in his beach house while Bernadette was gone. Even though Penny in her mind knew Bernadette was still on her period and nothing was probably happening, the though of them alone in bed felt like someone stabbing her in the gut. So Penny suffered every minute of every day he was not around, trying to figure out what thing so horrible she had done to be punished like this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - Penny's Time?**

It had been two days, two long lonely days for Penny, when everyone agreed to meet for lunch, again at the bar/restaurant the girls first met Leonard. Penny was excited all morning about seeing him again, but she wasn't ready for the feelings that flooded her body when she finally laid eyes on him, she felt her heart would explode from her chest it was beating so fast. It even got worse, when everyone sat down and she was easily able to sit right next to him with Bernadette on his other side.

"Soooo…how are you guys doing? We haven't seen you in a little while Leonard. Everything going well there in paradise?" Amy teased, her eyebrows moving up and down to emphasize a sexual innuendo.

Bernadette swatted Amy, which made Amy and Bernadette giggle and Katie frown, Bernadette responding, "That is none of your business girl." Penny forced a small smile on her face, as her eyes went to Leonard, noticing a forced smile on his face too. She had seen his real smile before, she was an actress, she knew a true smile when she saw it and Leonard's smile stopped before it reached his eyes, it was definitely forced.

Martha came by to get their drink orders and after she wrote them down she stopped and looked at them all. "I hope you are all doing alright, those kind of things never really happen here."

Leonard looked up at her, "You heard?"

Martha nodded "Gossip travels fast around here. The owner is a good man, he is heartbroken you girls almost got hurt."

Penny nodded, "We're okay, just an accident. Leonard kept us all safe. Thank you for your concern."

Martha nodded, "Leonard is a good man, no?" She then smiled directly at Penny and walked away.

Bernadette smiled, grabbing Leonard's arm and giving him a little shake, "Leonard is a good man, YES!" Amy and Katie smiling with her and patting Leonard's hand on the table.

Penny forced the little smile on her face again, she was trying to understand what exactly happened that moment. Martha had been looking directly into Penny's eyes when she said that Leonard was a good man and when she said no, it felt like it was a question directed at her. Was she trying to tell her something about Leonard, if she was, what was it, what did she mean? Penny's fake smile stayed plastered on her face as her friends talked, she was trying to understand everything that was going on around her. She had never been so confused in her life, one of her best friends was dating a guy she wanted so badly it hurt, and she knew she would steal him away any chance she could get, what was wrong with her. Nothing she told herself, she had a connection with him, Bernadette didn't, and she was pretty sure he saw it too, they were suppose to be together, she just knew it.

Martha had brought out their food and everyone had started to eat when she spoke again to them. "Leonard you should take them to see the fish, they would like that."

Leonard looked up at her and shook his head, "No that is not completely safe either."

Martha chuckled, "They cannot fall from the sky if they are in the water, how is that not safe."

"What fish?" Katie quickly asked, interested.

Martha immediately started talking again, before Leonard had a chance to say anything. "There is a small sheltered bay not too far from here with a coral formation and some of the most beautiful fish you have ever seen. They live around the coral and they have all the colors to blend in with the coral."

"Oh that sounds great, do they have a glass boat or something to see them?" Amy asked, obviously interested.

"That does sound nice." Bernadette added.

"What is dangerous about that?" Katie asked.

Leonard now jumped in before Martha could influence them anymore. "There is a boat, it is a diving boat, you have to scuba dive down to see them. Have any of you scuba dived before? That is why it is dangerous."

"No." Bernadette responded.

"That kills that. I am not going underwater." Amy added.

Katie just blurted out. "Penny knows how to scuba dive." Which made Amy and Bernadette look at her and then at Penny, neither of them knowing that about Penny, before.

Leonard joined the girls and stared at Penny in disbelief. "You know how to scuba dive?"

Katie answered for Penny, "Yeah she does, she had a boyfriend, in high school, who loved to do that, so he taught her and she went down with him a couple times in the lake at home one summer."

"You know how to scuba dive?" Leonard asked again, it was actually a statement.

Penny gave him a real smile, "Yeah a little. But we never went too deep, maybe 50 feet, so I'm not that good."

"You scuba dive, Honey?" Bernadette asked him while touching his arm.

Leonard looked at her, "Yeah, I had to take course for this job. The sensors are in about 40-50 feet of water, so if one breaks, I have to replace it. We have a contract with the dive boat owner, if I need to replace one he takes me out and dives with me as my partner."

"You're sort of a tropical macho man and stud aren't you Dr Hofstadter." Katie teased.

"He sure is." Bernadette giggled.

"Nooo." Leonard lowered his eyes at his hands and blushed.

Katie looked at Bernadette, she was looking at Leonard with a twinkle in her eyes, she really liked him a lot. Then Katie looked at Penny and she silently gasped, Penny had the same loving look as she stared at Leonard, the same look from weeks before when she first saw him. 'Crap' Katie thought, she thought Penny was over that when Bernadette and Leonard seemed to have hooked up the last couple of days, but she could see that wasn't the case, it was obvious there was something still there. "Well those fish are probably too deep for Penny anyway, so I guess that trip is out." Katie was surprised when Penny looked at her, a glare in her eyes.

"No the fish are not deep at all, are they Leonard?" Martha looked at Leonard to agree.

Leonard sighed, "They are only in about 40 feet of water, and they give a day long course to teach new people how to scuba dive, since they aren't that deep."

"Also, people dive with partner, to keep things safe, don't they Leonard?" Martha added.

"Yes Martha, they do." Leonard said with exasperation.

"Well I'm not going under the water, not this girl." Amy stated flatly.

"I don't think I want to do it either, I don't swim that well and it would scare me to be under the water." Bernadette added.

"I would like to do it." Penny said quietly, which made everyone look at her. "It sounds like fun." She added cautiously. Penny would do anything to be with Leonard for a little time alone.

Katie didn't know what to do, she was a good swimmer, but the way Penny looked at her before, she didn't think Penny wanted anyone to join her and Leonard. Katie was really worried again, for the second time she was seeing triangle was forming between her friends and Leonard. "Um…I don't know if I really want to go either. I'm not really into fish."

Suddenly Leonard realized that he and Penny were the only ones left to do this and his guilt over Bernadette came over him again. He took Bernadette's hand, "You sure Bernie, it is really not too hard and I think you would have fun."

Bernadette smiled at him, "No Honey, I'm not that comfortable around the ocean, I can swim but not that good and having all that scuba stuff on me would scare me."

"I would be there." Leonard responded.

Bernadette gave him a quick kiss, he was so sweet. "No, I trust you, but I don't think I can do it. Take Penny, she is the adventurer of the group, the tomboy." Bernadette did have a little trepidation of letting Penny and Leonard go together, but her and Leonard had now been together for a couple of weeks now and besides what could they do under the water.

Martha smiled as she walked away from the table, the four pretty girls and Leonard. She liked Leonard and seeing him surrounded by beautiful woman who liked him made her heart feel good. However, she thought she saw something special between him and the girl Penny, the way they looked at each other was very special. Martha couldn't understand why Leonard was with the other blonde, when maybe his true love was sitting next to him. Well at least they were planning to be together tomorrow to see the fish and being underwater with someone special seeing something beautiful was very romantic, Martha thought.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The boat ride out to the reef took a little over an half hour, however it seemed a lot shorter and Penny and Leonard talked the whole time together. This was the first time Penny had been alone with him and she found it so easy to talk to him, she also found everything he said extremely interesting. She was a little disappointed when they finally arrived and went through their pre-dive briefing, but that only lasted a minute as she concentrated on the instructions and safety briefing for diving today.

There were three pairs of them, all of them being one man and one woman, couples every one of them. There was a couple from New York, on their honeymoon, and another couple from Ohio, who had been married for 6 years. Penny blushed when they asked her and Leonard how long they had been married and didn't know how to feel when Leonard told them they were friends. The way he said friends started her heart beating fast again, it sounded like he meant it as more than friends, but she didn't know if she heard that with her ears or her heart.

The dive itself was magical, Leonard stayed close to her the whole time, he was protecting her, and she felt so secure beside him, even though she had not dived for years. When they reached the reef it was absolutely beautiful, the fish were the most colorful she had ever seen outside a book and they would come right up to you, they knew they wouldn't be hurt and weren't afraid. They had all been given an underwater digital camera and some fish food, so while Penny fed the fish, surrounding her, Leonard took pictures, then she did the same with him. Penny was having so much fun, not only because of this underwater adventure but because she was with Leonard, he was just wonderful the whole time. It was near the end that another couple swam up to them and wanted them to take a picture of them together, so Leonard did, then Penny indicated for them to take a picture of her and Leonard. They both held each other close and the couple took the picture, and after they handed the camera back and swam off, Penny found she was still holding Leonard's hand while he looked down at their joined hands. Something inside Penny took over as he looked back up to her, their eyes locking together again, like they had a couple times before and she just let her heart take over. She pulled herself closer to him by his hand, took her regulator out of her mouth and moved her lips toward his, hoping he would do the same.

It took a second for Leonard realize what she was doing, but he was unable to resist, her took his regulator out too and tilted his head to clear her mask and let their lips meet. Even though it was a clumsy kiss, two people wearing diving masks under 40 feet of water, it was an amazing kiss, Leonard had ever experienced and he held it with her until the need for air overwhelmed the pleasure of her lips on his. They both put their regulators back in and stared at each other, Leonard feeling incredibly happy and yet extremely guilty.

Penny felt the tingles from her lips to the tip of her toes and wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, it was the most amazing kiss she had ever experienced with a man. She was just trying to figure how to kiss him again, when the underwater horn sounded that was their notice to return to the boat their adventure was now over. The trance now broken between them Leonard slowly lead her up to the boat, again Penny feeling that she had been cheated with her time with him, wanting nothing better than to spend the rest of the day with him.

Leonard and Penny were the last ones to the boat, and Leonard helped her off with her tank and weight belt before she climbed the ladder to the boat. Penny was still emotionally high from the kiss, so Leonard's touch when he helped take of her gear, sent shivers through her body. Leonard handed her equipment up to the guy on the boat, and Penny then started to help him off with his tank even though he tried to gently tell her he was okay. She couldn't help her touches of him lingering too long while she helped him, she was intoxicated by him and she would do anything to maintain the closeness they currently shared. However when Leonard handed his equipment up, it came time for Penny to climb the ladder into the boat and leave him.

Leonard swallowed hard as Penny climbed the ladder in front of him. They were wearing short wet suits, but they didn't really cover up Penny's behind which, while she was ascending the ladder, was now in his view. It was perfect, just like her, and now the guilt really hit him hard, he was extremely attracted to her, that kiss made that so obvious to him, but he was with Bernadette and that wasn't right, no matter how he tried to twist it. He didn't even realize she was back in the boat until the crewman yelled to him, to ask him if he was coming into the boat or needed help. What made things worse is when he stepped onto the deck, Penny smiled at him and took his hand for him to help her off with her wet suit and help dry her. The next few minutes were absolute torture for him as he dried her back and body with a towel, her smiling at him the whole time.

However when it came time for her to help him, he stopped her. "Penny…I can't."

Penny felt like she had been slapped, she hoped she was wrong at understanding what he meant. "Leonard….I….I don't understand."

"Penny that kiss….what was that kiss about?"

Penny swallowed, this was not going like she hoped, everything was going wrong, she was making him uncomfortable and she felt like a fool. She had to salvage anything of the budding friendship they had, the thought of driving him completely away was something she didn't want to bare. "It was a Thank You for this trip, I really enjoyed myself Leonard, this was amazing and so beautiful. I guess I got carried away in my enthusiasm, I'm sorry. It was nothing more than that."

Leonard nodded feeling like a complete fool, he knew he read too much into it, he was so pathetic and now he probably made her feel that he was weird. Why would a girl like her be even slightly interested in him, he still couldn't even understand why any of those four girls were friends with him, much less someone as pretty as Bernadette hanging around with him. "I'm sorry…..I…I'm sorry. It was beautiful wasn't it, I'm glad you enjoyed it." Leonard then stepped away from her to take off his wet suit and dry himself.

The rest of the trip back from the reef, Penny and Leonard didn't sit too close to each other and didn't talk, both lost in their own thoughts. The girls were at the dock to pick them up so Leonard got in the back seat with Bernadette and Penny got into the passenger seat for the trip back home. Bernadette was relieved, although both Penny and Leonard both described how beautiful it was, they both seemed to be distant from each other, like they really didn't have a good time together, which was fine with Bernadette.

Bernadette spent the night with Leonard and the next day, Amy, Katie and Penny saw nothing of Leonard and little of Bernadette again, Amy making jokes about Bernadette nesting with Leonard. Penny was trying to not obsess on what happened the day before, trying not to think about Leonard, but it was harder than she thought and she couldn't help the desire to see him again, even though he was with Bernadette. She was trying to convince herself she could be his friend, just his friend, because as long as he was with Bernadette, that, she knew was all she could be.

Leonard moped the whole next day, he was nice to Bernadette but she could tell he was just going through the motions while something was bothering him. After lunch she tried to get him to open up on what was wrong, but he just made some excuse to go check his equipment again and left down the beach to be gone the whole afternoon. Bernadette was frustrated and worried as she made a quick stop at the girls beach house to get some clothes while he was gone. That evening her and Leonard hardly talked at all and both just sitting and watching TV the whole night until bedtime.

The next day Bernadette had decided she had to do something, it had been two days since the scuba trip and Leonard wasn't acting much better, her worry now exceeding her frustration with him. She really liked Leonard and she wanted to get his mind off his problem and back on them, because ever since the parasail trip, Bernadette thought she was loosing him. That morning, Leonard was in the kitchen of his beach house making some tropical drinks for him and Bernadette using fruit, ice and the blender. Bernadette had gone out to the porch already to get some sun, saying her tan wasn't good enough to show everyone when she got home, which made Leonard softly chuckle with her little joke. He had just finished the two tropical smoothies and was carefully carrying them to the porch, when, as he walked outside he almost dropped the drinks at the sight before him.

Bernadette wanted to lay out a little and get some sun, but she really wanted for Leonard to get his mind back to her and she wanted to be intimate with him that day, her period now over. Bernadette was wearing a small bikini, one that was very flattering and showed most of her best assets, her breasts, because now she wanted Leonard to really notice her. She had carefully worn a robe to cover herself until she got outside where he couldn't see her, then she quickly put her beach towel on the lounge chair, dropped the robe and laid on her belly to start her tan. She felt almost naked, the bottoms were quite small and the top crack in her ass showed as she laid down, the only thing covering her backside a patch of material, she was embarrassed, but the sight of Leonard's face made it all worth it. "Honey can you put suntan lotion on me so I don't burn." she said as sweetly as she could.

"Umm….Yeah….I guess that I can do that." Leonard put the two smoothies on the small table next to the lounge and took the suntan lotion off the table, while he pulled a chair next to her. He had to force his hand not to shake as he started to rub the suntan lotion on her back, trying hard not to look at her perfectly round sexy bottom that was sticking out the side and partially exposed by the suit bottoms. He first did her back, arms and neck then moved to her feet and legs, getting more and more nervous as he moved to her thighs approaching her ass.

Bernadette never got turned on by a guy touching her ass, but Leonard moving up her legs was making her so turned on she couldn't wait till he started rubbing around her ass. She bit her lip not to moan while he did the top of her thighs and then when he touched the sides of her bottom, she shivered, he was slowly turning her extremely on.

Upon feeling her shiver, Leonard pulled his hand away, "I'm sorry." he thought he went over some line by touching her there.

Bernadette tried to control her voice. "That's okay, I just felt a little draft…Please continue."

Leonard looked at her confused, "You sure?…..Do you want me to put suntan lotion on your…bottom?"

'Hell Yes' Bernadette thought, "I don't want to get sun burnt on my…..bottom. It will probably hurt if I sit, if I did. You don't want that, do you? I know I don't."

Leonard swallowed and nodded, "Okay." He had never rubbed anything on a woman, especially a beautiful woman, it was both exciting and scary.

Bernadette closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing and actions, Leonard's hand rubbing lotion on the exposed parts of her cheeks of her ass, was amazing and was exciting her in a very carnal way. When he finally stopped she almost moaned in frustration, but then she decided she wasn't done with him or this experience. She had laid on her stomach, because she knew if she laid on her back, her breasts would practically fall out of the bathing suit, but now that is just what she wanted. "Honey since you have lotion on your hand and right here, could you do my front too?"

Leonard was just getting his senses back from rubbing Bernadette ass cheeks, they were so soft round and sexy, Bernadette's distraction was actually working because Leonard had never been in this situation before and was overwhelmed. He didn't want to stop and he wasn't even thinking when he said 'Okay' to her request.

Bernadette smiled then rolled over, her breasts immediately coming partly out from behind the material that made up the top. She almost giggled when she saw Leonard's eyes go wide and she then thought she wanted to move this whole experience up a notch. "Damm, I should have expected that, well this top is useless. Let me move it out of your way." Bernadette quickly pulled the bow in the back discarding the top to the table in one quick move, then laying back for Leonard to put lotion on her.

Leonard sat there stunned, he never imagined himself in this situation with her, maybe rubbing her breasts around her top, but to see them in the open in the bright daylight was something different. Bernadette was quite shapely and her breasts were amazing, plus the way she was looking at him right now was making his heart beat faster. "Umm…Okay." was all he could get out of his mouth. He started putting lotion on her feet tops then moved up her legs trying to built courage before he reached her breasts, however he forgot about the small patch of cloth that covered her womanhood until he reached it. He just stopped and stared for a minute at that patch, unable to get any closer to it. Something like this never happened to him before, rubbing lotion on a beautiful practically nude girl was a dream, not real things that happened to guys like him. He quickly moved to her arms and neck, trying to recover from his excitement and calm down, but he soon came to point where he had to put lotion on her breasts and he got nervous again, stopping to look at her.

Bernadette saw the look in his eyes, he was nervous and she thought it was adorable, he was just as nervous as her, which made her feel better about what she was doing. "Leonard it is okay, they really need to be covered so they won't get burnt. Can you do that for me." she pleaded. His gentle touch as he stared to rub suntan lotion on her breasts, sent electricity through her, and she knew she wouldn't last long in this little situation if he continued his massage, but she really didn't want him to stop. It was worse because he was covering her breasts and not touching her nipples, which were rock hard by now, so the pleasure kept growing in her core as he gently massaged the lotion in. She was too turned on by the time he rubbed the lotion on her nipples, his fingers rubbing against them as he rubbed the lotion in, and she couldn't control it anymore as she writhe under his touch and moaned loudly.

Leonard was actually surprised at her squirming under his touch and then her moan made him realize she was getting turned on, which aroused him and made him wonder. However he had no doubt when she opened her closed eyes to see them almost black in dilation as she reached up to bring his face to hers. Leonard's mouth met hers as her tongue immediately sought his in a searing kiss that surprised and excited him. It was right then Penny came into his mind and the kiss with Bernadette making him remember Penny's kiss from two days ago, it made him pull back to look at Bernadette in surprise.

Bernadette looked at him and the look in his eyes made her suddenly feel self conscious and naked, bringing despair and tears to her eyes. He didn't move for almost a minute and she fell apart, starting to sob, feeling foolish and exposed, she felt so rejected. She was about to get up and run to the house, when he became animated again scooping her up in his arms then pulling the beach blanket over her to cover her as he gently cradled her in his lap, her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Bernadette put her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, feeling him adjust the big beach blanket so that it practically covered her whole body completely, seeming to understand her self consciousness at being almost naked. They stayed like that for a while, Bernadette hanging on to him tightly, even though his actions caused this, she needed the comfort of him almost as much as she needed the air to breathe. Finally the tears ended and she just laid there in his arms nuzzled close to him, the feeling of him relaxing her. "Why Leonard?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry."

"Please tell me what's wrong?"

"I can't, I'm sorry."

Bernadette wanted to hate him but she couldn't, she wanted to go back to the girls beach house, but she couldn't leave his arms as he held her. So she just stayed in his lap, her head on his shoulder, as he gently rubbed her back to try and comforted her, she just couldn't leave, she couldn't give this up and she just hoped things would get better. The emotional release and being so comfortable in his arms eventually got to her and closing her eyes for a second resulted in her quickly falling asleep in his arms.

Leonard felt terrible, he never wanted to hurt her and while she had cried he had tears in his eyes too. Bernadette was like a petite angel in his arms, she deserved to be cherished, not hurt like he just did, the thought of it made him feel horrible. It was with a little relief when he felt her breathing steady, as he realized she was asleep, and he adjusted himself in his chair, because he had no intention of letting her go while she slept. Leonard gently kissed her head then lightly rubbed his cheek against her hair, "I'm sorry my little angel, I'm so sorry." his eyes still wet from his hopelessness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 - Confrontation**

Leonard sat there for two hours, his legs going slightly numb, but he didn't move her, just held her securely while she slept. Her rhythmic breathing was comforting to him and he had lightly laid his head along hers while he sat there the whole time thinking. He couldn't deny it any more, there was something about Penny that attracted him to her and after that kiss, he wanted to know how she felt. The problem was it was unfair to Bernadette, he had been with her the last couple of weeks and he did have a emotional bond with her, but he didn't feel the same way about her as he felt towards Penny. It was his fault, he didn't really understand what was happening at first with Penny and he let himself get involved with Bernadette, because it was so easy to do, Bernadette was wonderful. However now he was hurting her and it was really breaking his heart, Bernadette was a special beautiful person and he was a bastard for doing this to her.

Bernadette slowly woke up, she was warm and comfortable, first thinking she was in bed with Leonard, then slowly realizing she was in his lap and remembering why. "Sorry, I must have dozed off." She said as she brought her head up to look at him, feeling better she was still wrapped up in the beach blanket.

"That's okay, you needed to rest a little."

Bernadette could still see the hurt in his eyes and the sadness. "Leonard how long did I sleep?"

"A couple hours…..I'm sorry Bernadette."

Bernadette nodded, she was surprised she slept that long, but now she wanted to know what was wrong again and she knew he wasn't going to tell her and if she pressed she would cry again. She also knew Penny was part of the problem and she now wanted badly to talk to her, because unlike Leonard, Bernadette would make Penny talk. "Leonard, I'm going to go back to the beach house for a little while." She watched as Leonard sadly nodded, it actually hurt her heart to get off his lap and go into the house to change, she felt like she was deserting him.

Leonard was still sitting quietly on the porch chair when Bernadette came out of the house dressed to leave, her presence making him look up at her. "Do you want me to drive you up?" he asked her.

"No I want to walk up the beach." Bernadette leaned down, intending to kiss him then stopped for a second to look at him as he looked back at her. Bernadette felt the last couple days were impacting their relationship significantly and she knew Penny had something to do about it, so she told him 'bye' and headed to the beach with new purpose.

The trip up the beach wasn't long, just a quarter mile, but in that time Bernadette's despair turned to anger, anger at her friend who somehow was ruining something good she had going with Leonard. She wasn't really processing things well right then and was so worked up by the time she turned off the beach to the house, she even knew it herself, she was overreacting. She went up the stairs to the house and stood on the porch, just breathing and calming down, before she walked in finding Amy and Katie standing behind the kitchen bar. They were drinking iced drinks, in bathing suits, sweaty from obviously being out in the sun tanning and they looked at her with a little bit of surprise.

Amy quickly recovered from their friends sudden appearance and smiled, "So girl did Leonard wear you out or did you wear him out." she said then giggled, making Katie frown.

Bernadette was not in a mood for anything funny right then. "For your information, Leonard and I have not had intercourse."

Penny had been standing in her room until she heard Amy's remark and was now in the doorway as Bernadette responded. Somewhere inside her she rejoiced hearing Bernadette say that, while at the same time she felt bad for thinking that way.

"You two haven't done it. Is Leonard gay." Amy looked at her confused

Bernadette got an evil look on her face, "Leonard is definitely not gay and just because we haven't done it, doesn't mean he hasn't made me go over the edge several times while we have made out. I told him I wanted to go slow and he has respected me."

"Really, while you made out. Leonard really is the stud." Amy joked.

"Amy, I don't think Bernadette thinks that's funny." Katie said, her face now very serious.

The smile fell from Amy's face as she really looked at Bernadette, "Sorry Honey. What's bothering you?"

"Where's Penny?"

Penny's room doorway was behind were Bernadette was standing, so she didn't see her. "I'm here." Bernadette quickly whipped around and Penny suddenly regretted she hadn't moved back into her room.

"Penny what happened to you and Leonard, two days ago?"

Penny tensed. "Nothing….nothing happened."

Bernadette shook her head, "Don't lie to me. Leonard has been moping around the last two days like he has lost his best friend. What happened!"

"Penny has been acting the same way." Amy blurted out, only to have Katie touch her arm to get her attention then shake her head to let her know to be quiet.

Bernadette looked at Amy, her mind racing, then back to Penny, she swore the look on Penny's face was guilt. Bernadette was now drained, she felt frustrated again and in a softer voice she addressed her friend again. "Penny what happened? I need to know. You are suppose to be my friend. Please tell me?"

Penny could see Bernadette's eyes were wet and she knew that if she told her it would only make things worse, but Bernadette was her friend and she owned her the truth. "I kissed him. I'm so sorry, but I couldn't help it."

"You kissed him, that's all?" Bernadette was trying to rationalize it, that wasn't too bad. "But you kissed him after the parasail thing, what is the big difference to cause this?"

Penny closed her eyes, it was hard on her, telling her friend this, "We were under the water and I took my regulator out and went to him. He took his out and we kissed on the lips until we needed air again. If they didn't call us back just then, I think we would have kissed again."

"I knew it." Katie whispered as Amy looked at her confused.

"Penny how could you!" Bernadette yelled, then quietly, "How could you." She then seemed to shrink before her friends eyes, as she slowly walked to her room and closed the door.

"Damm" Katie whispered, making Amy look at her again.

Penny just stood their, unable to move, she wanted to beg Bernadette's forgiveness, but she knew Bernadette wanted nothing to do with her right now. She felt terrible about how she hurt Bernadette, she felt horrible about what was happening between her and Leonard, and as she looked at Katie and Amy she felt like she betrayed them too. Their stares seemed to bore right through Penny until she couldn't stand being there in front of them, turning to go back into her room, leaving Katie and Amy just looking at each other.

"What just happened? What is happening?" Amy looked at Katie.

"Bernadette and Leonard happened and now Penny and Leonard is happening." Katie just shook her head.

"Penny is stealing Leonard from Bernadette?" Amy was shocked.

"I don't think Penny ever really let Leonard go from the first time she saw him, now that I think about it. Bernadette just got caught in the middle."

"But Bernadette and Leonard have been together most of the last two weeks. How did Penny have him?" Amy was confused again.

"I think Penny wanted him the first day he came to our table. Bernadette just wanted him too, so she took him, not knowing Penny already claimed him."

"You know that makes no sense. It just sounds like some romance novel." Amy shook her head.

"Yeah, I know, but I think this time it is true." Katie replied.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The next couple of days, were very quiet, in the girls beach house, Amy and Katie the only ones really talking, Penny and Bernadette only saying one or two words when someone talked to them, and only during the few times they came out of their rooms. Bernadette hadn't gone over to Leonard's since she left that afternoon, not because she was mad at him, but because she knew if she saw him she would cry and maybe beg him to be with her instead of Penny. Penny was too confused to do anything, she knew hurt Bernadette and she felt she was some how now hurting Leonard too.

The night of the second night was most disturbing for Bernadette, the realization the tension between all of them was so thick that it was ruining all the fun they had been having there. Everyone was acting like some one died, and Bernadette knew why, they had all accepted Leonard as part of their group. In just over two weeks he had endeared himself to all of them, especially her and Penny, and now with him gone, there was obviously something missing, that wasn't being helped by the tension between her and Penny. Bernadette didn't hate Penny, she was mad at her, but she couldn't hate her, they had been there for each other over the years and Bernadette knew Penny wouldn't purposely hurt her, ever. No she could never hate Penny, but she knew she still had to figure a way to work out this problem between them and Leonard.

Leonard, of course was the heart of her and Penny's problem and after two days Bernadette was missing him badly. A couple times when she went on their deck, she found herself moving to the stairs, to go to his beach house, only to catch herself before she took the first step. She so wanted to go back a few days to when they were all together and happy, the way it was the first couple of weeks, but she knew that could never be, that time was over. Bernadette also knew something had to change, and it became more and more evident to her that it was her that had to do the changing. The girls were not going to do a thing, they all saw her as the hurt party in the group and none of them, even Penny, were going to do anything until she did. It was just then Bernadette knew what to do, bring Leonard back into the group and see what happens, it was the only way that made sense. All of them wanted him around, especially her and Penny, she just had to prepare herself for what his being around Penny might do to any dream she had about him being with her.

That same night, Leonard sat in his beach house just accepting, from the day Bernadette left, that things were all screwed up and that his remaining days there would involve work and sitting in the beach house. He actually felt he deserved this despair he felt, he really didn't deserve Bernadette or Penny, so he just assumed natural selection had finally run its course and he was on his own again. He only had a short time left there anyway and soon Howard would come down to help him collect the instrumentation, pack it and send it back to their storage facility, marking the end of this whole Jamaica disaster for him. He figured he would never see any of the girls again, and just knowing that depressed the hell out of him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It was the morning of the day Howard was going to arrive, that found Leonard again walking down the beach to the monitor station to take the morning readings. Forcing himself not to look at the girls beach house as he walked by, he didn't think he could take seeing one of the girls if he looked that way. He had almost made it, like the days before, when he heard the shout, making him turn to see Bernadette running down the path to him, it made him incredibly happy and sad at the same time.

Bernadette had been sitting on the porch when she saw him, she had waited that morning on the deck to see him and once she did she knew she had to go to him. She had yelled in desperation, and then ran to catch up to him, happy he stopped, standing there to wait for her. She was also happy when she ran up to him and he took her into his arms, she needed this him from him right now, a confirmation that after all that happened they were still friends. Bernadette didn't bother to kiss him, she knew that would be awkward between them now, but the hug was good enough, she still cared for him and the hug made her know he still felt something for her.

Penny had heard Bernadette yell his name, while she got coffee from the kitchen, not even knowing Bernadette was on the deck. Penny couldn't also help herself as she walked out on the deck to see Bernadette jump into his arms and the hug between them. It made her pain come back again, as she watched, but then she watched in horror as they parted and talked, finally looking back up to the house and obviously seeing her standing there. She wanted to run but found herself frozen in place as she watched them both walk up to the house, purposely looking and walking toward her.

Penny stood there as they came up the stairs to the porch and stopped in front of her, she had no idea what was going to happen next. She looked to Bernadette to see if the petite woman was going to explode, and kill her at that moment, right in front of Leonard, quickly scolding herself for ever thinking that about her friend. So Penny just stood there and waited for someone to say something, because right now she was at a loss for words.

Leonard looked at Penny, he didn't know what to say. Bernadette had asked him to come up there and he couldn't tell her no, he would probably do anything she told him right now because he felt so bad about hurting her. But after a few seconds looking at Penny he said the only thing that came to mind, "Hi. How are you?"

Penny felt the butterflies again, like every time she was around him, "Okay, I guess."

Bernadette stood there trying to compose her thoughts, she had been thinking about this since yesterday and she knew she had to go through with it. "Penny, I can't just pretend Leonard doesn't exist anymore." She looked at Leonard and gave him a small smile. "He didn't do anything wrong."

"I know I did and I am sorry." Penny responded.

Bernadette shook her head, "I want to agree and blame you for everything but the more I think about it, I can't."

Penny eyes shot to Bernadette, "You can't?"

Bernadette again shook her head, "No as hard as I try, I can't. I guess we have been friends too long and I never seen you do anything to purposely hurt me, so doing something now doesn't make sense."

"I've hurt you before?" Penny looked at her in shock.

Bernadette gave her a weak smile. "Not on purpose, some day after we're both married, we'll get drunk and talk about it, but not now."

Penny nodded, "Okay."

"Anyway, I like Leonard a lot, and I think you do too, he is all our friend and it doesn't make sense for him to not to be around anymore." Bernadette looked at Penny who just nodded. "So I want him to stay around and if things happen, then they happen, okay." Bernadette looked at Penny again as she slowly nodded.

"It won't be too weird?" Penny asked Bernadette, then looked at Leonard.

Bernadette sadly chuckled, "Of course it will be, but we won't let it get too weird, okay." She then looked at Leonard, "Okay?"

Leonard had just listened completely surprised at what was being said, "Okay."

"Okay." Penny added.

Bernadette then swallowed, she really didn't want to do this, but if Leonard wanted Penny, Bernadette wanted to know quickly, she didn't want to drag it out hoping he really wanted her. "Penny, you and Leonard need to talk…..Leonard's going down to the monitor station to record the night's readings and he gets done quicker if someone helps. I can't go." She then directly looked at Penny who's stunned expression at least made her feel a little better, that her friend obviously was concerned about her feelings.

"Bernadette are you sure?" Leonard asked

Bernadette then looked at him, his eyes showed nothing but caring for her, and her heart yearned for him again, like before. "I'm sure." She smiled at him then looked at Penny, "Go Penny." Bernadette turned to go into the house, until she felt the hand on her shoulder, she knew it was Leonard's and it stopped her dead in her tracks. She felt him move up close to her and gently turn her, finally putting his arms around her, she couldn't help herself as she melted into his body. He held her for a long time until she realized he was not going to let her go, she had to do it, so she gently pushed away and smiled at him, turning again and going into the beach house.

Penny and Leonard both watched her disappear back into the house then stood their a minute just staring at each other, both unable to move, both thinking of Bernadette. Finally Leonard realized they had to do something or they would just stand there all day. "We better get going, I need to get the readings before noon."

"Okay." Penny then just followed him down the stairs to the beach, lost in her thoughts as he was probably in his, because they never said another word all the way to the monitoring station.

Bernadette walked into the kitchen, got a cup of coffee, then sat down on the couch lost in her thoughts. She knew she did the right thing bringing him back, Leonard had become special to her and apparently Penny too, but she didn't have to like it and she especially didn't have to like that Leonard and Penny were now walking down the beach together. Bernadette sipped her coffee, her thoughts about this situation running over and over in her mind, she didn't even notice Katie, walk over to the coffee machine.

Katie poured a coffee, it had a little bit of cinnamon in it, the way Penny always made it, but Katie noticed Penny wasn't there. Penny's bedroom door was open, but as Katie looked around she saw no sign of her, making her wonder. "Bernadette have you seen Penny?"

"She is with Leonard." Bernadette quickly answered, without looking back at her friend.

Katie spit out her coffee and coughed in shock. "HUH!" Bernadette didn't say anything else and Katie just stared at the back of her head, stunned for a minute.

"Who is with Leonard?" Amy said rubbing her eyes as she headed to the coffee machine.

Katie turned and whispered to her "Penny." Amy coming immediately awake and turning to look at Bernadette with Katie.

Amy leaned over towards Katie to whisper, "What should we do?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I guess wait for Penny to come back." Katie then started to wipe up the coffee she got over everything.

Leonard had just locked the door back up on the monitoring station, then turned to see Penny just standing there staring at him only a couple of feet away. Suddenly he felt he was looking at the most beautiful creature God had put on the planet and without thinking he took a step towards her making their faces less a foot away from each other. He continued to look into her eyes and something in his heart told him she was telling him it was okay, because the next minute he brought his lips to hers and she leaned into him a moment later. He felt her arms wrap around his neck, which made him wrap his around her waist and they kissed until they had to breathe or die, finally both separating and gasping at what just happened.

Penny seemed to get her senses back first, "Leonard what was that kiss about?"

Leonard didn't know what to say, he really wasn't sure how she felt about what just happened, so he copied her response from before, "I was just thanking you for your help." it even sounded lame to him after he said it.

"That was a lot longer than a 'Thank You' kiss." Penny didn't want to let it go with him, not this time. Her heart was racing so much she swore he could feel it.

Penny's face was still close to his and she had one hand still on his shoulder and the other had a firm grasp on the front of his shirt, he could actually feel her gently pulling him towards her. He looked at her lips and they seemed slightly swollen and her eyes had gotten darker too, it just made him want to kiss her again. So Leonard just gave up control and let her little pulling take over as his body again coming close to her and their lips meeting again. Her lips were amazing and her tongue now sought his, while her arms wrapped around his neck and her hand was now playing with his hair.

This kiss lasted a long time too, and when they stopped, Penny didn't separate from him, instead she pulled closer and put her head on his shoulder, while he gently squeezed her. They stood like that, in each others embrace, for a long time too before either of them said anything, just enjoying the closeness of each other that moment in time. Penny finally was the first to speak again, "We are suppose to leave in a week."

"I know, Bernadette told me. I still have two weeks here."

"What happens then?"

"I honestly haven't thought that far ahead." Leonard confessed.

"Leonard, Bernadette is right, I can't just go on like you don't exist either. Not anymore."

"Me either."

Penny and Leonard walked down the beach casually talking about small things, just enjoying listening to each other, until they reached the beach in front of the girls beach house, them both looking up to see if Bernadette was on the deck. It was actually a disappointment for them both when they saw the deck empty and the pang of guilt Leonard had gotten that morning when he first saw Bernadette formed again inside him even though she wasn't there. "Penny I need to put this data into the computer, then I need to go to the airport to get Howard." He said with regret, he really didn't want to leave her right now.

"Sweetie, why don't we all go and get your friend, we can have lunch."

Leonard couldn't tell her anything but yes, "Okay, give me an hour and I'll come by to pick you all up in the SUV." Penny nodded to him and started to give him a kiss then thought better of it and turned to walk up the path to the house. Leonard stood there watching her for a few seconds before finally turning to walk the remaining distance to his house to finish his work.

Penny walked up to the beach house, looking back several times to watch Leonard go, even catching him looking back at her one time, both of them smiling and giving each other little waves. Penny's emotions were now all over the place, she knew he felt something for her, and knowing that only made her want him more. He was the most perfect man she had ever met, she loved every minute she was with him and kissing him took her breath away. She was so lost in her thoughts, she almost walked into the screen door that separated the deck from the house.

Penny entered the house, then sat down and looked at Bernadette, "Thank you." She wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Bernadette just looked at Penny for a few seconds and sighed, "I'm not giving you Leonard, Penny."

Penny blinked a couple of times, "Huh?"

"I brought Leonard back today because I didn't want to loose him. It was about my feelings for him, not yours. I don't blame you, but I am not giving him to you. It is his choice and maybe he right now wants you, but if you screw up, I'm going to be right there for him, even if I am his second choice, I'll still take him."

Penny was stunned, she didn't know what to say. "Ummm…" The serious look Bernadette was giving her and her tone left no doubt she was dead serious.

Bernadette continued, "A couple of days ago, when this all happened, I seduced Leonard and I gave myself to him." Amy and Katie both looked at each other stunned. Penny looked at Bernadette in shock. "No we didn't have sex, but I wanted to with him, so if I have an opportunity and he wants me, I'm just letting you know it will happen."

"But what if he is with me?" Penny pleaded.

"That is the one rule with Leonard, we have to agree on if we want to stay friends. Whoever gets him has to work to keep him, and the other has dibs until there is some obvious commitment, like a ring or some kind of promise. If I actually thought sex would win him over, I would run over there right now and screw his brains out. But Leonard is not like that and I can't think of doing anything more than I am doing now." Katie and Amy looked at each other in shock now, Bernadette never talked like that, she was the good Catholic girl.

Penny just nodded, "Okay."

Bernadette and Penny then looked at each other a few moments, before Bernadette turned her attention back to her coffee, it was cold, but that didn't matter right now. Penny looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling she needed to get coffee too, as she got up and headed to the kitchen to pour a cup, putting some distance between her and Bernadette. Amy and Katie just stood quietly watching both girls, trying not to bring any attention to themselves.

Penny took a drink of her coffee and then remembered his last words. "Leonard is coming back in an hour to take us to pick up his friend at the airport and have lunch, too. I told him we would go with him, so if any of you don't want to go, I understand."

"I going to take a shower." Bernadette then got up and headed to the bathroom while all three girls watched her every movement.

"No we are definitely going." Katie said after the bathroom door closed.

Penny glared at her then walked to her room calling over her shoulder, "I'm taking a shower next."

Amy then looked at Katie in frustration, "I need a shower too?" Katie just shrugged.

When Leonard pulled up with the SUV, the girls were waiting and came right out to him, Penny leading the pack. However as Penny got to the passenger door, she stopped and held the door for Bernadette, after what Bernadette did that morning it was the least she could do. Bernadette gave Penny a little nod and scooted into the middle next to Leonard as Penny joined her in the front seat with Leonard. Katie and Amy got into the back just giving each other looks as they watched what was becoming more of a love triangle forming between their friends.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - Howard**

The trip to the airport had been noticeably quieter than previous trips the girls and Leonard had taken before together. The only thing that seemed safe to talk about was the guy Leonard was going to pick up, Howard. So by the time they stopped and parked the SUV at the airport, the girls knew something about Howard, including exactly what he looked like. It was Amy who was most uncomfortable with the tension in the SUV, during the whole trip, so it was Amy that came up with the idea to have some fun with Leonard's friend.

"Leonard, let us greet Howard." Amy told him as soon as they entered the airport.

Leonard looked at her confused, "I don't understand."

"You told us what he looks like so we will wait for him and greet him. Based on what you have said about him, it will be funny to see how he reacts." Amy said with a smile.

Penny looked at her, "You don't think that would be a little cruel?"

Amy shook her head, "I don't think so, we are Leonard's friends and are not going to be mean to him. I think he will like being kissed by four girls. What do you think Leonard?"

"As long as you are nice to him and do not tease him too much, he'll probably be shocked, but I know after he will think it was great." Leonard admitted.

Katie nodded as wicked smile on her face, "Oh he is so going to be shocked." No sooner Katie saying that, her three friends and Leonard looking at her wide eyed, "In a good way I mean." Katie gave them a small smile as she blushed.

Katie, like Amy jumped on the idea, after the last couple of days of tension in the beach house, doing anything fun sounded great to her. Penny was looking for some kind of release from the strain between all her friends and the guilt she couldn't get out of her gut from hurting Bernadette. Bernadette really just went along with her friends, like she did many times before, when they didn't suggest something dangerous or wildly inappropriate. Even though they all had their reasons, they were all enthusiastic on carrying Amy's idea forward, so they immediately started to put together a plan.

It was just over a half hour later that Howard came through the customs line into the main terminal with his bag. Leonard was actually happy Howard was there, because after the girl's plan was finalized, the last 10 minutes had too much uncomfortable silence for him. The girls now smiling on what they planned to do and Leonard knowing how surprised Howard was going to be making him smile again now, too.

Howard looked around for Leonard, but was immediately distracted by the four beautiful girls walking towards the people exiting customs, like himself. Leonard told him about the beautiful women there and now seeing four of them in the airport, only validated Leonard's statements from video chats with him before. His mind drifted off for a second thinking about finding love in paradise, like he always read in stories or seen in movies, but he quickly came back to reality when he realized the four women were walking directly to him while looking at him and smiling. Howard's first reaction was to run, but his feet wouldn't move, he was so in shock as he stood there helplessly.

"Howard, Sweetie, did you have a good flight?" Penny spoke first, Howard was Leonard's friend, so Penny actually wanted to make a good impression.

"Howie, welcome to Jamaica." Bernadette quickly added.

"Yes, welcome Howard. I hope the trip wasn't too long." Amy told him.

"Welcome Howie." Katie said in a sultry voice, then put her hands on both sides of his face and kissed him squarely on the lips.

Howard was stunned beyond belief, the hand holding his rolling suitcase dropping the handle letting the bag fall down to the floor. The only thought going to Howard's mind that he was still on the airplane asleep and having the most awesome dream he ever had. It even got better when he felt the other girls coming close to him and putting their hands on his back and shoulders.

Penny glared at Katie when she finished kissing Howard, she knew she should have expected her to do something like that, but it still made her a little angry with her friend. Penny leaned in and gave Howard a kiss on the cheek, it making her smile when she got the same shock and awed expression from him like when Katie kissed him. "Welcome to Jamaica, Sweetie." She smiled a little more when Howard squeaked out 'Thank You.'

Bernadette was shorter than Howard so she did what she did with Leonard, pulled him down to her by giving him a little tug on his arm which made him come to her with no resistance. She gave him a kiss on the cheek like Penny and like all the girls, leaving a lipstick mark on his cheek, she couldn't help notice how good he smelt as she got so close to him, it actually made her forget for a second what she was doing. "Welcome Howie." was all she said, getting an adorable smile from him and another squeaky 'Thank You'. which made her giggle.

Amy was a little bit miffed at her friends for being so enthusiastic with her idea, so not to be undone, she grabbed Howard away from Bernadette and put a kiss on each cheek then a quick one on his lips, "We are so glad you made it here safely, welcome Howard."

Howard stood there now as the four girls smiled at him, each one having a hand on him and one was even rubbing his back, he was really stunned, especially since he now knew it was real. He didn't even notice that every guy that was coming out of customs was staring at him in envy, even some of the married ones, who's wives were trying to drag them along. Howard was completely overwhelmed and only Leonard walking up to him now, had any grounding effect on his mind which right now was somewhere sitting on cloud 9.

"Great to see you Howard. Hope you had a good trip. I see you met the girls." Leonard tried not to chuckle at a wide eyed Howard, who obviously didn't know his face was covered in lipstick lip prints, the girls had especially done for him.

"Umm" was Howard could get out as he looked at each one of the girls.

Leonard smiled. "Girls, I'm ashamed at you, didn't you introduce yourselves to Howard." Leonard playfully scolded.

The girls all looked down with pouty lips, like planned, then all looked up with smiles again. Penny was first again, "Howard, I'm Penny." she then gave him another kiss on the cheek.

"Howie, I'm Bernadette." Bernadette only had to touch his arm this time for him to lean down to her, as small smile now formed on his lips. Bernadette again caught up a little in his intoxicating smell as she kissed his cheek, lingering a second longer than planned.

"I'm Amy, Howard." Amy gave him a kiss on the cheek like the other girls.

Katie had that wicked look on her face, Penny knew she liked being a tease, she had seen that look many times before back home. So Penny looked directly into Katie's eyes and hissed "Katieee" making Katie drop her expression and her plan to stick her tongue down Howard's throat. Katie leaned over and kissed Howard's cheek, "Hi, I'm Katie." She then looked at Penny with a look that asked 'satisfied' to which Penny only nodded.

Howard left the airport with a girl on each arm and two others following their hands on his shoulders. Leonard followed pulling Howard's bag behind him, a bag Howard seemed to have forgotten all about as soon as the girls showed up. Leonard had a big smirk on his face and he strained not to start laughing as he looked at people around him staring at his friend surrounded by beautiful women as they lead him to the SUV.

Lunch turned awkward for a second, as Penny and Bernadette positioned themselves on either side of Leonard, preventing him from sitting next to Howard. However, it turned out to be great for Bernadette, because Howard sat next to her and talked across her bringing her into many of the conversations. Penny would have felt completely left out if it wasn't for Leonard and the other girls trying not to let Howard's and Leonard's conversations dominate their lunch socializing. It was actually fun, even when Howard came over his shock at the airport, laughing at their little stunt, but then smiling when the girls told him the plan was for only one kiss but they all got carried away because he was cute.

However if there was a contest to determine who had the best time at lunch it would have been a toss up between Howard and Bernadette. Howard loved the attention he was getting, but sitting next to the petite blonde next to him was amazing, he had trouble trying not to just stare at her when he turned to talk to Leonard. Bernadette was in heaven, having Leonard on one side of her and his friend on the other, her immediately thinking and confirming that Howard was just as nice a guy as Leonard.

It was after a two hour lunch, which involved mostly socializing, that Leonard finally got Howard to their beach house and showed him his room. Howard slightly disappointed of the thought that the girls were now leaving, him thinking he could really get use to being around beautiful girls his whole time there. Luckily for Howard, Katie was enjoying the mood change in her friends and now wanted it to continue the rest of the night so she could have some fun, "Leonard, this is Howard's first day, so we have to go to the club tonight, to break him in."

Amy liked that idea, the last couple days were like living in a funeral home for them, some fun was needed desperately now. "Katie is so right, Howard you want to go out tonight with us, right?"

Howard and smiled and nodded, "Yes, of course."

Bernadette and Penny where thinking the same thing, dancing with Leonard, so they both smiled and nodded to the suggestion. Leonard's opinion really didn't matter at this point, he knew they were going, "I'm in." So they all made plans to get together for dinner, drinking and dancing a few hours later, what the girls called the three 'd's' of a successful date.

Dinner turned out fine, the girls more social with each other, they were actually good friends, so Penny and Bernadette acted pleasant to each other during their meal. Leonard was happy the girls were nice to Howard, talking to him over dinner and trying to get to know him better, him also noticing Howard becoming more relaxed as he got to know the girls better. Leonard was especially proud of Howard for just being nice too, around the girls, it seemed the attention he was getting still had him overwhelmed and he was trying to be extremely nice to not screw anything up with the girls.

However when they arrived at the club after dinner, things immediately got uncomfortable, not with the girls but with guys hitting on them like they did when Leonard was alone with them, by coming to the table to ask the girls to dance. Katie and Amy went to dance while Penny and Bernadette turned the guys down repeatedly, and it got to the point where Bernadette almost yelled at one to stop bothering her when she noticed him come to ask her a second time. What really made her mad was those guys could see Leonard and his friend Howard sitting with them and they still came to ask them to dance. Bernadette found Leonard's and now Howard's intelligence extremely attractive, and since she knew she possessed above normal intelligence, she felt insulted herself when the guys were ignored by the muscle brained hulks hitting on her. Also there was another thing that was making things more awkward, Bernadette knew that both her and Penny wanted to dance with Leonard, but neither of them would make the first move. So these random guys were getting to Bernadette, they weren't respecting the problem her and Penny shared and were insulting the two great guys that were sitting with them.

Penny was sick and tired of guys asking her to dance too, she had even seen Bernadette getting short with one of the guys who asked. She was about to ask Bernadette to come to the ladies room with her, to figure something out on sharing Leonard, when Bernadette did something to surprise her. Another guy asked Bernadette to dance and she got mad, calling him an asshole and couldn't he see she was with her boyfriend, while she leaned over to give a very surprised Howard a kiss on the cheek. She then quickly stood up and grabbed Howard's hand, taking him to the dance floor with her, leaving the guy stunned as he slowly slinked away. The guy that leaned over to ask Penny to dance a couple of seconds later was really in for a surprise. "Bug off asshole." Penny said to his face as she got up and dragged Leonard willing to the dance floor.

Bernadette danced with Howard, first him acting confused and a little scared, but eventually getting into the dancing with her. They danced a couple of songs, then when a slow one came up they headed to the table, until Bernadette saw that guy looking at her again on the way to the table. She was still a little mad, that those guys were disrespecting Leonard and Howard, so she grabbed Howard and pulled herself against him, her head on his shoulder as he slowly cautiously wrapped his arms around her and began to slow dance. Bernadette did think Howard was cute, but now on his shoulder she again experienced how good he smelled, making her unconsciously pull a little closer while they danced.

Penny had been heading back to the table with Leonard too, until she saw Bernadette slow dancing with Howard, the sight was all that was needed for her to immediately wrap her arms around Leonard's neck, then put her head on his shoulder as they began dancing. She originally was not going to slow dance with Leonard because she felt it would be wrong to do that in front of Bernadette, but seeing her with Howard, Penny had no more reservations. Song after song played and Penny kept Leonard out on the floor with her, he didn't try to resist her, so she just kept him with her, not wanting to let him go.

Bernadette went to the table with Howard after the slow dance, noticing how Howard was a little stunned about what was happening, and she couldn't help think it was actually really cute. But now she also noticed that Penny still had Leonard on the dance floor and it just depressed her, she also noticed that Amy and Katie where hooking up with guys, too. She felt helpless and the feeling of depression was making her want to feel numb and she knew from her friends the best way to do that was just to drown her feelings in booze. She looked at Howard, he acted and seemed like a nice guy, so she thought what the hell, "Howard could you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure, anything." Howard was dazzled by her, and still had not gotten over the feeling of her on his shoulder.

"I want to drink and I need you to promise to make sure I don't go hook up with anyone. Promise me you will make sure I get home, unharmed, okay?" Bernadette couldn't help the feeling she could trust him.

Howard was shocked at her request but he would do anything for a beautiful girl so he just nodded which made Bernadette smile, her thinking he was really cute. "Thank you and now how about you buying us some Tequila."

The next hour the other girls hardly went back to the table Howard and Bernadette were at, all of them with guys and Penny with Leonard. Bernadette was determined to get drunk so several Tequilas later, she was telling any guy that bothered her to 'Screw off, her boyfriend and her were doing some serious drinking'. Howard was drinking with her, but not as much, he was taking her promise seriously, and he didn't want to get too drunk because Bernadette had gotten flirty with him and couldn't seem to keep her hands off him, which he couldn't help enjoy, but knew wasn't a good sign about her condition.

"Howard, you smell good." Bernadette told him then practically crawled on top of him so she could put her nose against his neck and sniff him. She then licked his neck. "You taste good too." she giggled.

"Bernadette, you have been drinking a lot." Howard was now starting to really get worried about her.

Bernadette giggled. "Well I'm a big girl." she giggled some more as she looked at him with drunken eyes, "Really big, want to see." She then started to unbutton her blouse.

Howard's eyes went wide, as he put his hands over hers on her buttons. "Bernadette, I believe you, you don't have to show me." 'Especially here, it a crowded bar', he thought. He knew things had just escalated out of control.

"Aw, don't you want to see the girls, you really are a nice guy aren't you." Bernadette then crawled into Howard's lap and started to kiss him, her tongue immediately pushing into his mouth.

Howard, didn't know what to do, this beautiful girl was all over him, but she was so drunk, the good guy in Howard took over, mainly because he was really liking this girl and didn't want to screw things up, if he had any kind of chance with her. He slowly pushed her away, "Bernadette, don't you think you have had enough, don't you think you should go home now?"

Bernadette whose eyes had been closed since she started to kiss him, now slowly opened to look at him and she purred, "You kiss good."

Penny had been on the dance floor for a while with Leonard and during every slow dance they seemed to get closer and closer, so she had now started kissing him when the slow dance started, moving slowly with him, until she realized the dance had stopped and she was still kissing him. She had been right, she loved kissing him, and she now knew there was more she wanted to do with him. They slowly parted lips and looked at each other, Penny was breathless looking into his eyes, "Take me home." she whispered.

Penny and Leonard walked back to the table to a very unexpected scene, Bernadette in Howard's lap, her arms around his neck, obviously really drunk. "What happened?" Leonard quickly asked, suddenly feeling very protective of her and wondering what Howard did.

Howard just shook his head with defeat in his eyes. "She said she wanted to drink her problems away."

Penny looked at Leonard, with regret in her eyes, then reached down to pull Bernadette up, to take home. "Leave me alone, you can't have this one too." Bernadette blurted out, making Penny jump back like she was burnt then look at Leonard again, this time in surprise.

Leonard touched Penny's arm and moved her gently away from Bernadette. "Howard will you bring Bernadette home with us?" Howard nodded.

"Bernadette you want to go home now?" Howard asked her.

Bernadette smiled, then kissed him, "Howie are you taking me to bed, no one loves me, will you love me?"

Leonard dropped his head, he felt like a royal jerk, he had really hurt her and he walked over and got on his knee to look up at her. "I'm sorry Bernadette."

Bernadette looked down at him and for a brief lucid moment felt pain mixed with a little bit of anger, "You had your chance Leonard, now Howie is my boyfriend." She then pulled Howard into a hug and started to whimper.

It took them another ten minutes to get Bernadette into the car, to take her home, she wouldn't let go of Howard the whole time. Amy and Katie told them to go ahead they were okay with the guys they were with, so Penny, Leonard, Howard and Bernadette drove to the beach house by themselves. Bernadette practically rode in Howard's lap the whole time, it worried Penny and Leonard, it was like she had attached herself to him to help her pain. It wasn't good for her or Howard, who was more confused than Leonard had ever seen him, plus he could tell Howard liked her, so he didn't want his friend hurt later, too.

They got her to drink some water and gave her aspirin, but when Penny tried to get her ready for bed, she wouldn't let go of Howard, "No you are not going to take him." he argued with Penny. Howard stood their helpless, unwilling to pull his hand out of Bernadette's tight grip.

"So you are going to change in front of him?" Penny was now tired of her antics.

"Howard won't mind, will you honey." Bernadette then gave him a sexy look that actually looked funny since she was so drunk.

"Fine, Howard turn your head." Penny then began to strip Bernadette and put on her pajamas.

After they got her pajamas on and her face washed, Howard and Penny got Bernadette to drink some more water, then put her in bed. Howard got up to leave, until she pulled him to her, "Don't leave me. Everybody leaves me, don't leave me too." Penny felt horrible and she looked at Howard who looked helpless.

"Howard, she is really drunk, could you just stay with her, and not….." Penny stopped speaking when Howard nodded.

"Okay, take care of her." Penny watched as Howard laid down on the bed next to her, Bernadette immediately cuddling up to him, her head on his chest. She was asleep before Penny even left the room.

Penny walked out to the living room to see Leonard sitting on the couch with two coffee's handing her one, which she gladly accepted. "Where is Howard?"

"Sleeping with Bernadette." Then she saw the shock on Leonard's face, "Just sleeping, she is already asleep on him. He is just taking care of her, that's all." Leonard nodded.

Penny then sighed, "Sweetie what do we do?" She then looked at Leonard sadly. "Leonard what do you want? I spent the last few weeks not knowing what to do concerning you and Bernadette and I never thought what you want. Tonight I did what Bernadette did the first day, I took you away from her, and look what happened. Leonard, you can't play with both our feelings?"

"Penny, I'm not playing with you two, please believe me."

"I sort of know that, Sweetie. It is just that's what is happening, whether you know it or not." Penny looked at her cup trying to find the right words. "Leonard, I really like you, and Bernadette is my friend, so you need to decide who you want. I tried to think of something I could do to fix this but, no matter what happens one of us is going to get hurt. You need to decide who that is." She wanted to cry when she looked at the sad expression on Leonard's face and he slowly nodded.

"I better go." He started to stand up, but Penny stopped him.

"I'll get some blankets and a pillow for the couch. I think you need to stay here tonight." She sighed, "In case Bernadette needs you." Leonard just nodded.

Leonard woke up in the night to hear Bernadette throwing up and went to the bathroom to see her in Howard arms whimpering, them both sitting on the bathroom floor. Howard was rubbing her back as her head was against his chest and Leonard wanted to hold her and comfort her, but realized at that moment he probably lost that right. Nodding to Howard he left them alone only to run into Penny on his way out of the bathroom.

"How is she?"

"Howard has her, she is just throwing up, I think she will be fine." Leonard said sadly.

Penny nodded, then kissed him on the cheek. "You better get some sleep."

"It's hard, with everything that is happening, I just keep thinking….."

Penny nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean." She went back to her room and Leonard went back to the couch.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Confused Feelings**

Leonard got up early to make coffee, he then walked by and looked in the open door of Bernadette's room to see Howard asleep on his back, Bernadette practically sleeping on top of him. He felt guilty, remembering how she would sleep on him like that, he really did care for her and seeing that bond they had dissolve was hard on him, especially since he didn't know what he exactly had with Penny. Leonard was really confused, he had felt something for Penny since the first time he saw her, but all he knew was she liked him, what if it wasn't more than that, he wondered. He needed to think, so he headed out the door to the beach, to walk and think as he went to check his equipment.

Penny woke up shortly after Leonard left, her too peeking in on Bernadette then going to the coffee, still hot in the pot. She noticed Leonard was not on the couch and it immediately generated a sense of loneliness inside her, even after everything that happened last night, Bernadette still got to cuddle and hold someone last night, while Penny again slept by herself and alone, like every day she had been there. She knew she put Leonard on the spot last night, now she wondered if she drove him away, as she sat on the couch wrapping the blanket around her that still smelled a little like him.

Bernadette felt terrible, her mouth felt like sand paper and her head hurt, it took it a few minutes to open her eyes and then another few minutes to realize she was sleeping on someone. Dread washed over her as she wondered what she did last night, her only hope being that Howard had kept his promise to her, the last thing she remembered from the night. She tried to move only to feel a hand on her back slowly rub it, "Awake now? How bad are you feeling?"

Bernadette started to relax, she recognized Howard's voice, she was probably safe, but now she wondered if she had slept with him. "My head hurts and I feel like every part of my body hurts." She closed her eyes, she had to know. "Howard did we sleep together?"

"Yes you got upset when I tried to leave so I slept with you." then Howard added, "Sleep only, if that is what you are wondering."

Even feeling so bad, that made Bernadette feel better, "Thank you Howard, you're a good guy." Bernadette suddenly felt very comfortable around Howard, she could trust him, she knew it in her heart. "Howard can you help me up, I need to go to the bathroom."

Howard left her in the bathroom, to do her business, and went into the kitchen seeing Penny sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, just staring out the glass doors to the deck. "Bernadette is up."

"There is cold water in the fridge, make sure she drinks as much as she can hold. The aspirin is on the counter." Penny responded.

"Thanks." Howard took the water and aspirin back to Bernadette's room.

Bernadette took the water and aspirin from him, when he got in the room, she was already back in bed. "Can you stay a little longer." She asked him while looking at the bed next to her.

"Yeah, if you promise to finish the bottle of water." Told her with a smile, he would have stayed with her even if she didn't drink a drop.

"Okay." Bernadette managed to get the whole bottle down then curled up next to him again, falling asleep almost immediately. Howard joining her a few minutes later. The feeling of her next to him making him feel content and happy.

Penny didn't know how long she just sat there, but finally she went back to her room to go back to sleep, suddenly feeling wore out and very tired. She really didn't know what to think now, last night, while on the dance floor, just her and Leonard, she was ready to bring him to her bed. Now things were awkward between them again, Leonard obviously cared about Bernadette, but Penny thought he cared about her too. She knew she would never have him until he settled things with Bernadette, and that was a real problem, because she could tell he didn't want to hurt her, it was so obvious by his actions around her. Penny couldn't help feeling insecure now as she wondered if he would choose her over Bernadette, and the fear he wouldn't made her feel hollow inside, like she may loose the one man who could be the right one for her.

Penny woke up after a couple hours and checked on Bernadette to find her sleeping on Howard again, so she closed the door, she was on her own now, Penny thought. She was surprised to see fresh coffee in the pot and took a cup looking around, but not seeing Leonard, so she walked out to the deck, only to find him on a chair sitting out there. "Hey you." She practically whispered as she got over the surprise of him being there.

Leonard looked up at her, a half full coffee cup in his hand, "Hi, did you sleep well?"

Penny sat in the chair next to him, "Sort of, I had a lot on my mind."

Leonard nodded, "Yeah, me too." Leonard sighed, "Penny, it hurts me to see Bernadette do what she did last night, that is not her, my actions caused that. You were right, it is all my fault."

Penny swallowed, worried about where he was going with this train of thought. "Leonard…."

"Please Penny let me finish, while I can do this." Penny nodded, "Penny the last few weeks have been the best in my life, and I will always remember them and you guys, the rest of my life. But to be honest things like this don't happen to me and I don't really know what to do when they do. You guys are leaving in a few days and maybe that is for the best, in the long run, you go back to your lives and I go back to mine." Leonard then looked down at his cup, slowly taking a sip.

Penny felt like her heart had just been pulled from her body, she just stared at him, she couldn't believe what he just said. "Leonard, why?" She had thought she might loose him to Bernadette but now loose him completely, him disappearing completely from her life, she couldn't bare the thought of never seeing him again.

Leonard continued, "I don't think we live in the same world, you guys are amazing and I am just me, this had to be just a fluke, an abnormally that's all. Look how I screwed things up, it just wasn't meant to be."

"Leonard you can't do this, you can't do this to me." Penny was now on the verge of crying.

Leonard looked at her, trying with all his mental strength not to just take her into his arms, "I'm sorry Penny. I've been thinking about this a lot and I really don't see any other way, everything is so messed up now." Leonard put his coffee cup on the table, he needed to go now or he knew he wouldn't, and was about to get up, when he heard the commotion at the front door of the house, as Katie and Amy entered with their guys.

"Hey anyone home." Katie yelled.

"Maybe they all went to Leonard's." Amy told her.

Penny put on her best acting face and quickly wiped her tears that stared to form, "We're on the deck." she shouted. Right now she welcomed any distraction that kept him from leaving.

Katie and Amy came to them quickly. "We and the guys are going to go swimming since they are in the hotel and don't have a beach." Amy told them. She then introduced the guys to Penny and Leonard, who turned out to be Australian, with accents the girls were obviously in love with.

They all went back into the house, Leonard following everyone, temporarily not knowing what else to do, to find Howard and Bernadette standing in her bedroom doorway. Bernadette was leaning back against Howard, noticeably woken by the commotion, a sour expression on her face. "Will you guys please shut up. My head is killing me, with all this shouting." Bernadette said in a normal voice, holding her forehead.

Amy and Katie looked at her, with Howard, then at Penny next to Leonard, "Okaayyy." Katie said then looked at the guys, "Why don't we change in our room." Katie led her guy to her bedroom and Amy did the same with hers.

Bernadette went to the couch, her hand on Howard, pulling him along with her, obviously wanting him there with her. She then grabbed the blanket there and put it around her while she laid back against Howard, Howard then started rubbing her back again, giving Leonard and Penny a small smile. It wasn't long before Bernadette had her eyes closed, as she cuddled against a very amenable Howard, it looked like she was asleep again.

Leonard just stood there looking at the couch, before turning to look at Penny, a sad blank expression on his face, the same look he had outside on the deck. Penny knew if she didn't do something he was going to leave, like he started to do before, and she would loose him, so Penny grabbed Leonard's hand and took him back outside. Penny lead him across the deck and down the stairs, till they were on the beach, then she pulled him along as she went to his beach house. Leonard didn't understand what she was doing and was clueless to what was possessing her so he just followed her, he really didn't know what else to do. Penny pulled him into his beach house then looked at him. "Which bedroom is yours?"

Leonard stared at her in disbelief, finally understanding. "Penny you don't want to do this."

However Penny had made up her mind, "Damm it, you owe me. If you are leaving me, I want to know if there was anything between us, or not. Now which bedroom Hofstadter or do you want me to just pick one."

Leonard looked at her, she was beautiful and determined, "That one." he pointed, and was dragged it the room, the door shut and locked.

Penny stood in front of him breathing hard, staring at him, finally unbuttoning her shorts and letting them slip off to the floor while looking him in the eye. She then unbuttoned his shirt and pushed in off his shoulders, still looking into his eyes, as she now put her hands on his bare tanned chest, his heat spreading all through her body. She couldn't stop now, as she pulled her tank top over her head, her chest now as bare as his and pressed herself against him. Penny didn't know how the rest of their clothes ended up off, because he then took her into his arms and kissed her long and hard, making her mind go blank.

Penny never knew being with a man could be like this, even Tom was never like this, his kisses were intoxicating and she completely yielded to him, never regretting a moment. Time stood still, it was just him and her, and they both seem so hungry for each other, they made love over and over until they were both exhausted, her laying on him while he nuzzled her neck. She never felt so content in her life before, she needed this, she needed him and a slow realization came over her, that maybe she was so attracted to him because he was the one she was suppose to be with, from now on.

Bernadette was laying on a pillow in Howard's lap, she was awake again and had just taken another aspirin with more water. The other girls were on the beach with their guys and Howard told her that Penny left with Leonard, which bothered her, though she now accepted that she was going to have to fight for him. But right now she was having trouble keeping her mind on Leonard as she wondered about this guy who was taking care of her and how he was so sweet. "Howard, tell me more about yourself?"

"I work at Cal Tech in their engineering research center, working on projects for NASA."

"So you are an engineer?"

"Yes, I have a Masters from MIT"

"That is why you are so good with your hands." she painfully giggled

"Huh?"

Bernadette gave him a small giggle again, "You have been rubbing my back I think every moment I have been awake." Suddenly Howard stopped rubbing her back. "Nooo, don't stop, it feels really good, that is why I said you have good hands." Howard started rubbing again.

"Howard?"

"Yeah."

"You're nice and you keep promises." She looked up at him, "And you're cute."

Howard smiled, he was falling for her already. "Thanks."

Bernadette turned her head again to look out the deck doors, a little embarrassed to look at him now. "Howard, I'm sorry about all this and what I've asked you to do. I'm a little messed up right now, but I think I will figure things out eventually but I sort still need your help, if you don't mind."

Howard smiled, "Sure, I can do that."

"Thanks Howard."

Penny woke up on Leonard where she had fallen asleep, she immediately felt his hand gentling rubbing her back. She never wanted to move, this was where she wanted to spend the rest of her life, she knew she was being silly, but that was the way she felt at the moment. It was that thought that gave her the courage, "Leonard, can I stay here?"

"I don't think I understand."

"Can I stay with you until you leave?"

"I thought you were leaving in a few days?"

"The house rental expires in a few days, I don't have to leave. So will you take me in after our lease on the rental is over, can I stay with you?"

Leonard closed his eyes, she was amazing, he so didn't want to hurt Bernadette, but he knew he wanted Penny, she was right, just like her, he had just found out what he would be missing and he didn't want her to leave. "Okay."

Penny turned her head to kiss him, "Can I move some of my stuff in today?" She now felt full of energy.

"Yes, of course."

Penny got up and pulled him up with her, "Come on we need a shower and I have things to do." Leonard never had shower sex before and never took such a long shower, Penny was incredible.

Everybody was in the beach house when Penny came back with Leonard, so she decided to tell them then, "Guys I'm staying here another two weeks."

"Really, but were are you going to live, this rental is gone in a week?" Suddenly Katie looked between Leonard and Penny and understood.

"That is great, you girls can stay with us, we're here for two weeks." One of the guys told the girls, which made Amy look at Katie.

"Sure, what the hell." Katie responded. Amy nodded.

Bernadette watched all this suddenly happen, feeling left out, until she felt Howard wrap his arms around her and whisper, "If you want you can have my room and I can sleep on the couch, the last week."

Bernadette looked at him, he really was so sweet and nice, "Thanks Howard, but I've slept with you last night, I could share your bed with you, it is just…." She whispered.

"I understand sleep, that's it. I'm fine with that." Howard whispered back.

Leonard had not heard the exchange between Bernadette and Howard, so as he now looked at her, he felt guilty, suddenly the whole idea just seemed wrong, she was being left out after all that happened. "Bernadette…"

"Howard invited me to stay with you guys too, if that is okay?" She quickly said as she watched him.

"Yes of course. You girls can have the bedrooms." Leonard quickly responded.

Bernadette watched as Penny's eyes went wide, her expression making Bernadette now think something had happened between her and Leonard, the obvious something her mind immediately going to was that Penny had slept with him. It all made sense, that was probably what she was coming back from and how she talked him into her letting her stay with him. She knew Leonard enough to know he didn't seduce her, Penny was the one that initiated it, Leonard would not make the first move with Penny without talking to her about them. It really wasn't right Penny did that, but though fuming Bernadette couldn't hate her, because if she was honest to herself, she had tried the same thing with him just days before and now if she was in the situation, Penny was in, she would have done the same thing. Bernadette was not ready to give up though, Penny just cheated and Bernadette thought she might still even the score, so now she really wanted to stay, she had to know once and for all if there was anything between her and Leonard.

Bernadette looked directly at Leonard, "No that is okay, Howard and I are bed buddies already. We can share, I trust him." She hated to rub it in Leonard's face, but as she watched Leonard's eyes go slightly larger, it actually made her feel good. Bernadette could see Leonard was still obviously protective of her, Penny hadn't won yet, she didn't have him completely.

Bernadette relaxed a little and laid back against Howard's chest, feeling his arms around her tighten a little to hold her, it actually felt good and it immediately made her feel guilty. She was already using him, he was comforting her while she was trying to take Leonard back from Penny, it wasn't something she did, and the feeling it gave her made her feel like she was doing something terrible. Bernadette knew she didn't want to hurt Howard, that was something else she had to make sure she didn't do and there was something else, she liked him, even after only 24 hours, she liked him and trusted him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 - Partners**

Penny didn't get to move some of her stuff that night after all, because they all stayed at the girls beach house till late, however she did get to go back to Leonard's place with him after Bernadette went to bed. Bernadette having gone to bed early, telling Howard she still felt a little sick, actually not wanting to be alone and again using him for comfort. So Howard stayed with her that night, again holding her, which allowed her to not obsess about Penny and relax, as she fell easily asleep, that night. Katie and Amy slept with their guys after going skinny dipping in the ocean that night, after Bernadette went to bed and Penny left.

Penny had the best nights sleep since she got there, it was late and she was tired, so being held tight in Leonard's arms in the bed was all it took for her to fall fast asleep. Leonard felt her gentle breathing, knowing she was asleep, but he had too much on his mind, today had been overwhelming for him and he began to over think everything in his mind, especially about Bernadette. He wasn't happy about what had happened that afternoon, sleeping with Penny seemed right at the time, but now he wondered if it had been wrong and he felt he hurt Bernadette, treated her wrongly. He really wasn't sure what to do, there was this incredible woman in his arms right now, but Bernadette was amazing too, Penny's words of the night before coming back to him, bringing back the guilt that seemed to be a constant companion with him now. Her words that one of them would be hurt, haunted him, because he knew he was very attracted to Penny, and every minute with her, that attraction was making him want her more. But that was the problem because one thing Leonard was not, was a player, he didn't want to hurt either of them, he cared for them both, even if he knew it was different with Penny.

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The next day Bernadette stood in front of Penny's open bedroom door, Penny was nowhere in the house, and Bernadette pretty much knew where she was, with Leonard. Bernadette also knew what Penny was doing, she was using her sexuality to her best advantage, she was better at it than Bernadette, and she couldn't help thinking that Penny was cheating to keep him. Bernadette's dark thoughts were broken when Howard came out of the bathroom, his smile was contagious and Bernadette found herself smiling in spite of herself being aggravated with Penny.

"Leonard called, he is coming by to get me and go to see the dive boat captain about our underwater sensors." Howard said in a tone that sounded like an apology.

"Okay…..Can I come with you." Bernadette asked seeing a smile on Howard's face and a nod.

It ended up with all four of them going to the boat harbor that day, Penny immediately wanting to go as soon as she found out Bernadette was going. She felt ashamed by her jealousy, but Bernadette's words about working to keep Leonard still rang in her mind. Besides, she loved being with Leonard, no matter what he was doing, so if she had to just follow him around all day, she was more than happy to do that. She was a little surprised when they went to the same boat wharf as they did their fish adventure just about a week before.

Leonard immediately saw her confusion, "We contract with the Fish Tour Captain to help with the sensors, that is why I knew about the fish watching thing." Leonard explained and Penny nodded, now a little bit wiser.

However things did not go as Leonard and Howard had planned, the Captain frowning as soon has he saw them approach. "Dr Hofstadter, it seems I might not be able to help you right now." the Captain told Leonard as soon as he and Howard stopped in front of him.

"I don't understand, we have a contract with you to bring up the sensors now?" Leonard asked in confusion.

"I know and I am sorry, but that didn't take into account accidents." the Captain sadly said.

"Accidents?" Howard now asked.

"Yes, my other diver, got into a fight with his girlfriend and girls here are very jealous. It will be two weeks before his stitches are out." the Captain explained.

"Stitches? What did she do cut him with a knife for cheating on her or something." Howard joked.

The Captain sadly nodded, making Howard's eyes go wide. Penny and Bernadette looked at each other quickly dismissing any thoughts about what they just heard, to each other. Leonard was surprised as everyone else, "Well you are a diver, can't you dive with me?"

The Captain shook his head, "Blown eardrum earlier this summer. The doctor said I will not be able to dive for six to nine months. Also I need to run the boat and the topside equipment."

"I'll bring the sensors up myself then." Leonard said, matter-of-factly.

Penny's eyes went wide. Even though she was the least experienced diver there, she knew how dangerous it was to dive alone. "No Leonard, you can't go alone." It then came to her. "I'll dive with you."

"No Penny, I can't ask you to do that." Leonard responded.

The Captain now recognized the very pretty blonde, then looked at Leonard, "She is a satisfactory diver and the sensors are no deeper than the coral reefs you both saw."

"No. That was only for an hour, this is almost four days of work, two one hour dives a day. It is too much and that makes it dangerous." Leonard responded, an edge to his words, letting everyone know he would not even consider the suggestion.

Leonard turned to leave and started walking away back to the SUV. Penny looked at everyone, "Give us a minute." Everybody nodding to her, as she then turned and followed Leonard to the SUV.

"Leonard!" she said as she chased him.

"No Penny, I am not putting you in danger. No freaking way, so drop it." Leonard responded harshly, surprising her, but also making her heart more fond for him at his concern over her.

"Leonard, please stop." Penny told him as she chased, suddenly seeing him stop in place and almost bumping into him.

"Leonard, we need to talk." She said.

"No Penny. This is my project, so I have final decision rights over everything. You are not diving." Leonard was so forceful, Penny almost forgot who she was speaking too.

Penny tried to think fast and was surprised when she actually came up with a compromise. "Sweetie, you know how dangerous it is to dive alone."

"Still, you are not going with me." Leonard insisted.

"Okay, but how about this. You go down and do your work and I'll just go down less than 10 feet to watch you, so nothing happens. I'll even have a line tied to me so they can haul me up if they think something happened to me. I won't be any deeper than a few feet below the surface so I will be safe, but I can sort of be your partner. Leonard, please do this so I don't worry." She looked him right in the eye.

"Penny.." Leonard tried to say.

"Please Leonard, just 10 feet of water and a line to me, what can happen." Penny reasoned with him.

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The next day, Leonard dropped into the water, he was wearing a double tank professional diving rig, to allow him to stay at the depth, of the sensors, for over an hour. He hung to the ladder and waited for Penny to drop in next to him, she had on one of the single tanks that they used when then did the dive to see the fish, because since she would be one atmosphere shallower than him, she wouldn't being using air up as fast as him. Once Penny was next to him, also holding the ladder, he helped her secure the line around her waist. "Penny remember you promised only 10 feet." he yelled at her so she could hear him over the slap of water against the boat.

Penny nodded, "Promise." she yelled back. She then put her regulator in her mouth and went under the surface with him stopping at 10 feet as she saw his glare behind his dive mask, letting her know not to go deeper. Penny spent the next hour in the water almost motionlessly watching him below, the water being almost crystal clear, like many places around the island. She would have been bored, if she wasn't worried sick about him and the weightless feeling in the water was a pleasurable feeling she couldn't ignore.

Leonard worked at getting the sensors up off the ocean floor and disconnecting the electrical cables, then putting the sensors and cables in the lift basket as each small section was disconnected. He couldn't help but take glances up at Penny every so often to make sure she kept her promise, but to also to get little comforting waves from her every time he looked up at her. He was actually making good time for one person, until he got to the last sensor he was to remove that morning.

The cable to the sensor was stuck and try as he could he couldn't get it undone using his one wrench. He knew he should probably wait till later to get it, but it was making him mad, so he got out another wrench, from his tool bag, as put one the sensor side and one on the cable side. He held on to both wrenches and pushed them as hard as he could, surprised when the connection broke and all the parts flew everywhere, one of the larger parts hitting him in a glancing blow off his mask. He was actually quite pleased with himself, he broke the whole thing free, so it took him a second to realize it was getting harder to breathe.

With every second that passed Leonard found it harder to suck in air from his regulator and as he reached back to his tank he felt the bubbles escaping from the hose of his breathing equipment. He now knew he needed to get to the surface, except for one thing, he had been down long enough that he had to stop half way to decompress for 10 minutes. Leonard was scared, he was loosing all his air and had to surface but if he just surfaced he would get the bends as air bubbles would form in his blood stream. He had a choice he could die from no air or maybe die from an air embolism, he was really in trouble and he had to make a decision fast.

Leonard had logically decided to take his chances with the bends, but before he could start to surface he found a regulator being pushed into his facemask. Penny had one of the tanks they used to see the fish and they were set up for safety, having a second regulator hose on each tank so they could help their partner in an emergency, like Leonard was having now. Penny pushed the mouthpiece at Leonard again, and Leonard took his damaged one out of his mouth and took hers, immediately feeling the life giving dry air fill his lungs. He pointed to his tank to have her turn it off, then they both headed to the surface and as they both slowly went up, them stopping at twenty feet to let him decompress.

Leonard wanted to send Penny up, since she didn't need to decompress, but one look at the fear in her eyes made him realize she would never leave him alone. However, Penny didn't have a lot of air in her tank and after a few minutes they were low, so Leonard took his tank off, then the damaged regulator off his tank, regulators only being held on by one wing nut, which facilitated quick removal. They both then took a deep breath of air, and Leonard turned off Penny's tank, quickly removing her regulator and putting it on his tank, turning his tank back on and giving them both air again. It had taken less than a minute but it seemed like an hour and they both sighed silently as the air re-entered their lugs. The remaining air in Leonard's tank turned out to be plenty as they surfaced together, after Leonard had fully completed his decompression phase.

Once holding the ladder again, Leonard took his mask off and looked at her. "You promised to stay at 10 feet."

Penny glared at him, "Don't you start with me Leonard Hofstadter, if you think I was going to stay there and watch you kill yourself, you are lot stupider than I thought."

Leonard swallowed, and continued to look at her as her glare softened to a look of concern. "Thank You."

Penny smiled, "That's better. Are you okay Sweetie."

"Yeah, you saved me." Leonard told her, as he leaned over to her and she met him half way to kiss.

The Captain clearing his throat made them finally look up at him. "Miss Penny you took your line off."

"It is alright, she had to help me." Leonard responded

They were all back in the boat, Penny and Leonard drying off, when Leonard told them all what happened. Howard and Bernadette listening in shock, while the Captain just shook his head. "Dr Hofstadter, it was a big mistake for you to dive alone, Miss Penny insistence with being in the water with you saved you from maybe death. The nearest decompression chamber is at the hospital and it would have taken us a couple hours to get you there, you could have died."

Leonard looked at Penny who looked at him with worry, she knew he was in trouble, but not that he was so close to really dying. "Leonard, you can't dive alone anymore."

Leonard was about to argue, until the Captain spoke up. "She is right Dr Hofstadter, I will not take you out alone anymore. We are also done for today, you both need to rest from what happened." The Captain then went to pull up the equipment bucket and tool bag, with Howard's help, while Bernadette watched Leonard and Penny just stare at each other.

"Leonard, I can dive with you and help." Penny finally said.

"No, you see how dangerous it is down there, one mistake and you could die. I don't want you down there." Leonard countered.

Penny was breathing hard trying not to cry, "Damm it Leonard, you need me!"

Leonard was getting mad, didn't she see he didn't want to risk her getting hurt. "No, I don't! I'll figure out something else to get this done!"

Penny couldn't stop the tears now and she grabbed her towel and stormed off to the boat cabin before she started to sob. Leonard stood there immediately feeling bad about what he said, he just couldn't stand the thought of her possibly getting hurt. Leonard didn't even notice Bernadette moving slowly towards him to comfort him, her slow movement due to the uncertainty of if she should interfere. However, everything changed as suddenly Leonard went to the seat in the back of the boat and just sat down, surprising Bernadette, who then decided to go see what Howard was doing.

Leonard sat there for over 5 minutes, hoping she would come out, before he couldn't stand in any longer, grabbing a couple of towels and walking directly to the cabin. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the shadows in the cabin, but when his eyes did, he saw Penny curled up in the corner of the couch, the towel over her body, her suit on the floor, and he thought he saw her shiver. "Penny."

Penny opened her eyes and looked at him but didn't say a word, it made him so uncomfortable, but he had to tell her what he had been thinking the last five minutes. "I'm sorry. I just got mad, I didn't mean I didn't need you. I just can't bare to think you could get hurt."

Penny looked at him, "Leonard, you saved me and I saved you, that is what people do when they care about each other. Why can't we just have each others backs, you know like partners. I can't watch you go off and do something dangerous either, especially when I know I can help. You don't get to make that decision by yourself, not if we are going to have a relationship together." Penny's voice trailed off, she hadn't really wanted to bring up a relationship with him yet, even though she knew she wanted to have one with him, she now wondered if she went too far.

Leonard stared at her for a few seconds, trying to understand her words, especially the word 'relationship'. It made him feel stupid, here he was, this big PhD scientist and an undergraduate college student was teaching him about life, how more pathetic could he get. He sighed and looked down at the floor, ashamed to look into her eyes. "You're right of course. I'm not really any good at this, I'm sorry." Leonard then turned to leave.

"Leonard wait." Leonard tuned to look at her. "I want to have a relationship with you, but we are both going to have to work at it, okay? I think we can work through this, if you still want to try."

Leonard nodded, "I would like that."

Her features softened as she now spoke, "Sweetie, I'm a little cold."

Leonard nodded and put one of the towels around his waist, then took off his trunks. He sat down next to her and put the second towel over her shoulders as she scooted closer to him, crawling into his lap as he wrapped his arms around her. The stayed like that the rest of the trip back to the pier, just snuggled tight to each other, sharing their body heat.

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The next day Penny dived with Leonard and they took two extra tanks with them, a spare for Penny to change when she needed more air and an emergency tank. They didn't need the emergency tank and everything went well that day, both of them working together getting more work done than they planned. Having Penny there to help him disconnect the difficult connections making the whole job easier on them both. Each night they ate a big meal, the underwater work making them famished and each night they went to bed early falling asleep quickly in each others arms. That was their routine through Friday, as Penny and Leonard picked all of the sensors from the ocean floor.

With Penny's help Leonard got done quickly, they seemed to get into sync after their first dive and only seemed to get faster as the days went on. So they completed their work after the morning dive on Friday when they brought up the last sensor and then headed back to the pier. Everyone happy to be done early, even Bernadette who forced herself to not watch Penny and Leonard talking quietly to each other in back of the boat, instead helping Howard place the last sensors in their padded holders to take back to the shore. They would pack and ship everything the next week, finishing their stay in paradise.

Once docked, it took over an hour to get the college's equipment off the boat and into a secure warehouse, near the pier, then finally they were done for the day. The four of them bidding the Captain goodbye and heading off to get something to eat, all of them starved from a morning on the sea. They all wanted big juicy burgers, the thought of fish, after being out on the water four days, the last thing any of them wanting to eat. So it was an hour later when they were all sitting down at a restaurant, with burgers and fries in front of them, talking quietly as they ate.

They mostly talked about the last four days, with Leonard and Penny doing most of the talking, since they had done all the underwater work and Howard wanted to know all about it. Leonard got a kick out of how Penny was so enthusiastic about the whole week and he had to keep from chuckling as he watched Penny talk while she snuck his crispy French Fries from his plate. However, this was the first time, Bernadette had been isolated from the conversation with Leonard and she didn't like it, so she waited for an opportunity to change the topic and get Leonard's, and now Howard's, attention.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 - Someone Has To Get Hurt**

Bernadette's chance came when the guys started to discuss the data the project obtained in the ocean around Jamaica. She subtlety took control of conversation, by repeatedly asking technical or scientific questions about Leonard's research or the particular details of data, from their work there. Bernadette also used the terminology of their fields, her studies of physics, helping her talk technically with the two men effortlessly. Bernadette did this not without guilt for her friend, but Penny had cheated using her sexuality, so now it was Bernadette's turn to wow them with her mind.

Penny sat there just listening, it was like some of the words they were using were a foreign language, which only got worse when Bernadette asked them questions. It got so bad a couple times she couldn't even understand what they were talking about or what they were saying about it. Penny knew Bernadette was in her realm, even thought she may have been doing this on purpose, but it also made Penny think, think maybe she wasn't smart enough for these people. Penny was really feeling left out, like she wasn't even there, until she felt Leonard's hand under the table take hers, making her know she wasn't forgotten. It was a comfort for her that even though he was in this conversation with his intellectual equals he was still thinking of her, however, it made her wonder how long that would that last.

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That afternoon, after their late lunch, Penny and Bernadette rode in the back seat as Leonard drove the SUV, talking the whole time with Howard in the front seat, on the remaining work they had to accomplish. Both girls just rode quietly in the back, looking at them and not talking, the tension between them evident to them both. Penny couldn't stop thinking how quickly the conversation had changed to something she couldn't understand and how it made her a spectator to what was going on around her. She was not use to this, especially since she started making movies, everywhere she went she seemed to be the center of attention. It made Penny wonder if she could really survive in Leonard's world, if they someday had a family together, and as she tried to understand those thoughts, the SUV came to a stop a their beach house.

Penny seemed a little fatigued as she departed the SUV and Leonard thought he knew why. Everyday they dived, they would dive in the morning, eat, then take a nap in the boat cabin to re-energize for the afternoon dive. It usually ended up being 4 hours between dives, and the captain told them taking that much time was good for equalizing the blood gasses in their systems before their next dive. It also kept their strength up, the food and the one to two hour nap rejuvenating them both, making the work in the afternoon not so tiring. Plus Leonard had to admit, spending a lazy afternoon cuddling Penny while they napped had easily become one of his top ten things to do anymore. So Leonard though maybe Penny was tired after eating, he knew he felt he could sleep a little himself, especially if they were going out tonight with the girls again.

Leonard gave a little yawn as they approached the house, "I don't know about you, but I guess I've gotten use to those afternoon naps."

Penny looked at him, pulled from her thoughts, to see that adorable smile on his face, a nap seemed like a good idea, to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess I am tired too."

The front door of the house was not locked, so their group just walked in, never expecting to see the sight before them. The music was blaring pretty loud, while Katie and her guy, William, were dancing slowly in each others arms, their bodies pressed together tightly. They were both wearing swimming suit bottoms, only bottoms, even Katie, the girls immediately seeing that Katie had no tan lines on her back from the deep tan she had gotten that week. They were oblivious to what was going on around them as they slowly danced to the music, their heads on each others shoulders and their eyes closed.

That scene was tame, compared to what was happening on the couch with Amy and her guy, Jack. Both their eyes were closed too, because they were in a full blown lip lock, obviously their tongues getting very intimate. That however, wasn't all that was happening, Amy was topless on the couch too, no visible tan lines on her either, and Jack had one of her breasts in his hand his fingers playing with her nipple, as he kissed her. The moans and the movement of both of them letting the four intruders know they were in the middle of foreplay.

Penny found herself staring at Amy a little too long, her own nipples starting to show through her top as the thoughts of Leonard's hands on her coming to mind. Finally she tore her eyes away and looked at Leonard who was looking at her, their eyes locking for a few moments now. Leonard gave her a small tight lipped smile and walked behind her, putting his arms around her waist, then whispering in her ear. "I didn't see a thing."

Penny couldn't help smiling, "You better not mister." she said as she affectionately patted the outside of his leg. The initial shock and aggravation of seeing what was going on, now seeming funny to her as she realized she currently owned her friends.

She looked over to Bernadette to see Howard standing behind her too, so Penny just nodded to her. "We're home." Bernadette said loudly.

The next few seconds will filled with pandemonium, four sets of eyes flying open, then going wide, pure terror taking over as bodies tried to cover bodies that suddenly didn't want to be exposed anymore. William had it the easiest, he just pulled Katie closer to cover the front of her chest, while lowering his arms to the point they covered the side of her breasts, hiding her completely. He then gave everyone a cheeky smile, while Katie glared at Bernadette and Penny, and then William gave everyone the chuckles by responding, "G'day."

Jack and Amy where sitting in positions that would not allow them to do what William and Katie did without one of them breaking their back, so they panicked. Both looking for something to cover Amy, until finally grabbing two couch pillows, one for each breast, Amy looking so funny with the two pillows, the girls couldn't help but giggle at her. Jack turning redder than Amy, obviously from being caught with his hand in the cookie jar or being more specific, his hand on the booby.

It was Katie who responded rationally first, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We live here." Penny responded, thinking 'this is too funny'.

"That's not what I meant." Katie said in frustration.

"She means, why are you back so early." Amy now tried to help Katie.

"Oh" Penny acted surprised that she now understood the question, getting a look from Bernadette who knew she was enjoying this too much. "We got done early, only one dive today. Good thing we didn't get back 10 minutes later than now." Penny winked at Amy.

Amy turned deep red, "No….we wouldn't do that in company." nodding towards Katie.

Katie chimed in. "What kind of girls do you think we are. You think we have orgies here?" William chuckled, getting a glare from Katie, "Shut up" she quietly warned him.

Bernadette now looked at Penny with a little bit of surprise, then whispered to her, "I don't think I want to know anymore."

Penny nodded, "Agree, we have too much information already." Penny then turned to Howard and Leonard. "You guys to the bedrooms, pronto, and close the doors, no peaking." she said with a big smile.

Leonard and Howard both smiled and followed Penny's orders, she was obvious 'Queen Bee' right now, and headed to the bedroom. Bernadette watched Howard all the way to her bedroom an urge forming inside her she knew she was going to have to suppress. Penny watched Leonard, with no thought of suppressing any urges, his ass looking especially cute as he walked away from her and the thoughts of fingers playing with nipples still on her mind.

Amy chimed in now. "Maybe you guys should go back to the rooms too."

Jack got up to go to Amy's bedroom, while Katie's eyes showed panic as William started to let go of her.

Penny leaned close to Bernadette, "Should we give her something to cover up?"

"Nahh, think about it, tanning topless was probably her idea. Let her suffer." Bernadette looked evilly back at Penny, making her giggle. William let go of Katie, following Jack's lead then went into Katie's room, while Katie stood there with her arms wrapped around her chest, her face deep red.

"So you topless suntan with two guys, you met a week ago, and Amy, but you are now too embarrassed to show us your hooters." Penny said with a hint of superiority.

"Shut up." Katie said.

"Yeah that is strange." Amy now jumped in, looking at Katie as an expression of understanding suddenly crossed her features.

"Shut up, Amy." Katie now directed to her friend.

Amy started giggling hard, dropping her pillows and holding her stomach as the giggles turned into a belly laugh, surprising Bernadette and Penny, until she said. "She's got hickeys on her breasts." between gasps for breath.

Katie's eyes went wild, "AMY!" then she looked at her friends big smiles, finally dropping her arms to expose at least two hickeys on each breast.

Bernadette was barely holding back laughing, "You meant we should have got here twenty minutes earlier." she said to Penny, before she lost it, laughing out loud.

Penny was barely keeping it together, tears already falling down her cheeks, "I would have paid to see that." she responded, pushing Bernadette over the edge as she started breaking up completely and laughing as hard as Amy. Penny following her a second later, cracking up.

Katie only saw red, turned and stomped to her room, the only word out of her mouth before she slammed her bedroom door, 'Bitches'. It only made the girls laugh harder, Penny swearing she peed herself a little. It took almost 15 minutes for the girls to calm down and retreat to their rooms where their guys waited, wondering what happened.

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It was almost 6 that evening when the knocking on Penny's bedroom door woke her and Leonard up, she had been much sleepier than she thought. When she went back to her room, after teasing Katie, she found Leonard already asleep in her bed, looking so cute, she didn't have the heart to wake him. Penny just got changed and cuddled up to him, it was the last she remembered, being cozy and comfortable along side him until the knocking woke her up. "Yeah" she yelled after she saw Leonard was awake too.

Katie just walked in, a look of disappointment on her face, "Are you guys going to sleep all day or are you going to dinner with us and then to the club?"

Penny knew Katie walked in to catch her and Leonard, she almost laughed at her feeble attempt, Leonard still had his shorts and shirt on, he entered the house in and she had sleep shorts and a big t-shirt on, with the bed sheet over both of them. Penny turned to Leonard, seeing him look at her, causing her to smile, she then put her lips to his ear to whisper, "I would just like to hang around tonight and get something here. What about you?" Leonard just nodded.

"We're going to skip dinner, we might see you at the club….or not." Penny responded.

"Okay, well you're alone then, Bernadette and Howard are coming with us." Katie thought that would motivate them to get up.

"Okay." Penny responded, then "Close the door when you leave." Katie turned and left.

"You hungry yet?" Penny whispered

"No, you?" Leonard whispered back

"No" they were both asleep again a minute later.

They didn't wake up again till 8 that night, both now hungry, and ordering pizza for delivery, so it was almost 9 when they finally sat down on the couch with pizza and drinks ready to eat. "Sweetie, do you realize this is the first time we have had a little date dinner together, just us." Penny said after she sat down.

"Well it is not really a dinner date, we are just eating after sleeping all afternoon." Leonard put in.

"I don't know, I'm having dinner, on vacation in Jamaica with a guy, we will have to talk to each other while we dine and if he impresses me, he might get lucky. Sounds like a date to me." Penny told him looking for a response from him.

"Well when you put it that way, it does sound like a dinner date. Wow, now the pressure is on." Leonard teased.

Penny giggled, "You'd have to screw up pretty good not to get lucky tonight."

Leonard fake wiped his brow, "Good, that relieves some of the pressure." which made Penny laugh and playfully swat him.

Penny and Leonard then both grabbed pizza and started to eat in comfortable silence until they each had ate a slice, Penny starting the conversation again when they picked up their second slice. "Leonard, when you were talking with Howard and Bernadette about the details of your experiment, I didn't understand a word you said."

Leonard nodded while he chewed, "I know."

"Doesn't that bother you that I'm so dumb." Penny looked at him with concern, really sort of worried about what he would say.

"You're not dumb. I have you know, I haven't dated a dumb girl since High School and she was really stupid." Leonard chuckled.

"So she didn't understand you either?" Penny asked.

Leonard shook his head, "No she went to the Prom with me so that she could flirt with this football player who was going to be there. She left me 15 minutes after we got there."

"Leonard, that's not stupid that is cruel." Penny felt sorry for him.

Leonard shook his head and smiled. "No she was stupid, the football player thought he would just have a quickie with her that night in the women's restroom, but they got caught, and they both got suspended." Leonard then chuckled, "She found out she was pregnant six weeks later. It seems he told her people didn't have orgasms when they used protection. That is pretty stupid."

"Yeah that is." Penny nodded a smile on her face. "How old were you guys?" Penny asked.

"She was eighteen, the football player seventeen and I was sixteen." Leonard responded.

"Was it your Junior Prom?" Penny was confused.

"No Senior Prom, I graduated right after my seventeenth birthday. She turned eighteen in January and he turned eighteen in the summer." Leonard clarified.

"Why did you two go together with such an age difference? High School girls don't usually go with younger guys, you knew that didn't you." Penny asked.

"A sixteen year old going to the prom with a eighteen year old, it is every nerds dream. I was so delusional that I was going to score, after all that is what everyone said you did after prom, have sex, it didn't even dawn on me that she was using me. Anyway you can't tell me a pretty girl like you didn't go to several proms with guys older than you. What was the biggest age difference for you?" Leonard now looked at her, waiting for an answer, making her blush.

"I went to the Senior Prom at fourteen." Penny confessed.

"Fourteen, really?" Leonard looked at her with a little concern.

Penny nodded, now embarrassed, "He didn't know I was fourteen, so when I told him he stopped."

"Oh" Leonard looked at her with sympathy.

Penny nodded, "When I was fifteen, and in junior cheerleading, the football player who was my first didn't care how old I was."

"I'm sorry." Again Penny saw sympathy from him.

"Don't be, all the popular girls had sex and I wanted to be popular, so I did it. No one said it would be fun, the girls said the first time always sucked and they were right. As a matter of fact they all sucked till I met this guy Kurt." Penny explained.

Leonard smiled, "You loved him right."

Penny sighed, "I thought I did, maybe at first I did, but Kurt was not the kind of guy you loved for long, because Kurt didn't know how to return love. He would tell you he loved you, but that was it, he didn't show love."

Leonard nodded, "I'm sorry."

Penny shook her head, "Again, don't be, it is not your fault." Penny then smiled at him, "I asked you about being with dumb girls and you got me talking about my love life. You are a sneaking man Dr Hofstadter."

Leonard chuckled, "I don't think I did that but I will answer your question. I like you for who you are, I wouldn't change anything about you. You are who you are and that is who attracted me to you. It isn't about any specific thing I guess, it is more the entire package that I am attracted to. I hope that makes sense."

Penny nodded, "It does, but I can't talk to you about your work, won't you get bored of me?"

Leonard chuckled harder, "Penny the last thing I would call you is boring, I am still have trouble getting over some of the stuff you have surprised me with."

Penny gave him a little smile, "Okay, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. It is just I wonder sometimes if we will run out of things to talk about." Leonard smiled at her.

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It was 2 AM when Katie, William, Amy, Jack, Bernadette and Howard returned from the club to find Leonard and Penny laughing and talking each others ears off. Penny immediately turning to talk to Howard as he walked in the door, "Howard, is Leonard bullshitting me or is there really a guy named Sheldon Cooper who works at your university?"

Howard's smile dropped, "Oh believe me Sheldon Cooper is no bullshit, crazy maybe, but he definitely exists."

"How can a real person keep a job at a state university after doing the things he does?" Penny asked in disbelief.

Howard just shrugged, "I think you may have identified one of the secrets of the universe, that if you solved, you would get a Nobel."

Penny just shook her heard, "It just does not seem like reality, it is more like a stupid sitcom, where the crazy character does nutty stuff and never gets punished."

Leonard grabbed her hands to get her attention, "Don't try to understand it, just ignore it, like we all do. If you think about it too long it will drive you insane." Penny just nodded and smiled at him.

"Told you they would stay awake all night." Katie said to Amy and Bernadette.

"Yes you did." Amy responded. Bernadette said nothing.

"Well I'm crashing since we have to pack and move tomorrow. Penny can we take the car?" Katie asked her friend.

"I think we won't need it." She looked at Leonard who nodded, "So yeah take it. But Katie, I've seen the way you and Amy drive on the left side of the road, so let William or Jack drive, at least for them its natural to drive on the left, right."

William chuckled then nodded, turning to Katie. "See, we are good for something, aren't you glad we stuck around."

Katie smiled, "Oh you are good for a lot more then driving, Honey." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Amy grabbed Jack's hand, "Come on, you heard, we need to go to bed to get up early." a big seductive smile on her face, Jack returning a equally big smile.

Katie and Amy disappeared in their bedrooms with their guys, leaving just Bernadette and Howard standing near the kitchen island. Bernadette didn't have a clue what to do, Leonard and Penny seemed to be involved now and she seemed out in the cold, concerning Leonard. Well she had Howard, but she felt she was using him and she didn't want to do that anymore, not if she was still seeking Leonard. She looked at him and decided what she wanted to do. "Howard, I going to get some sleep too, so if you could help me move tomorrow, that would be great."

Howard tried not to let his feelings show. "Sure, I can do that, we'll see you tomorrow."

Leonard and Penny heard the exchange between their friends and Penny nodded to Leonard, who turned to look at Bernadette. "Bernadette could I talk to you in private?"

Bernadette stood there stunned for a moment, completely forgetting about Howard, "Yeah, sure." She then watched Leonard get up and motion for her to follow him to the deck.

Howard watched them both go to the outside deck, not even seeing Penny walk up beside him. "Howard, why don't you stay around for a little bit." She softly whispered to him making Howard just look at her and nod.

Leonard took Bernadette's hand and lead her to two deck chairs, moving them so he was sitting directly across from her, them facing each other. Bernadette didn't say a word, not understanding what was happening and deep down inside knowing she wasn't going to like it. Leonard still had her hand as he took a breath, then looked directly at her. "Bernadette tell me what to do to not hurt you?"

Bernadette never expected him to say that and it stunned her, she wanted to say 'drop Penny and come back to her', but that is not the way she really wanted him, if she was honest with herself. She wanted to say 'love me instead of Penny', but she knew you can't make someone love you either. She didn't know what to tell him, "I don't know Leonard."

Leonard nodded, "I have already hurt you and I don't want it to continue. This triangle between you, Penny and me is my fault, I know it and I offered to leave…."

Bernadette didn't let him finish, "No you can't leave! Leonard we talked about that before, I don't want you to leave and Penny doesn't want you to leave."

Leonard slowly nodded again, "I care for you Bernadette, you know that don't you?" Bernadette nodded. "I don't want to hurt you. I also care for Penny and I don't want to hurt her too." Bernadette nodded again. "I really don't know what to do."

"Leonard leaving will hurt us both, hurting one is the lesser of two evils." Bernadette tried to reason with him.

Leonard now took her other hand so he had both of them, it sent a shiver down her, "You have seen what has been going on the last couple weeks, I have not tired to deceive you and Penny hasn't, so if I stay, you will be the one hurt. Wouldn't it be better if I just left."

Bernadette looked at him, "Does Penny know you are asking me if you should leave?"

Leonard shook his head, "No, this is between you and me. We talked, but it was about that I just needed to talk to you, sooner that later, and discuss our feelings."

"Do you love Penny?" Bernadette asked

Leonard nodded, "Yes, but I love you too, it is just different type of love with both of you. Does that make sense?"

Bernadette nodded, "I love you too, but it is probably different too." Even though Leonard and her weren't really committed to each other, or going together, they still had something, so breaking up she expected something different, to hate him and Penny or something like that. However, Bernadette couldn't hate anyone now, they still seemed like her friends and she just couldn't hate them. She believed Leonard did love her, it was just not the same as he felt about Penny, she knew he wouldn't lie about that, that was one of the reasons she loved him.

The silence was deafening between them, Leonard had to say something, "Bernadette, I have no solution or suggestion to make things better."

Bernadette nodded again to him, she then leaned over and kissed him, not on the cheek but on the lips, he didn't pull back. It was more than just a peck on the lips because they both knew it was a good-bye kiss and although is wasn't short, it really didn't last very long. Bernadette then stood up and let go of his hands to leave, but stopped for a second to look at him, "Leonard, can you just tell me something honestly?"

"I'll try." He responded while he looked up at her.

"If there had been no Penny and we met here, would you have picked me?" Bernadette then just stared at him.

Leonard stared back at her, stunned at her question, but he promised to tell her the truth and he had already thought about that himself, "Yes".

A small smile formed on Bernadette's face and she nodded, "Don't worry, I love Penny and would never hurt her." she gave a small sad chuckle. "I guess I just wanted to know. Thank you."

Leonard nodded, then watched her go back into the house, staying seated in the chair too emotionally exhausted to move. He had really hurt her and he felt like the biggest asshole that had ever walked the earth at that moment. He just looked down at his hands, never noticing Penny come to the doorway of the deck to check on him after Bernadette left. It broke her heart to see him with a tear running down his cheek.

Bernadette walked to her room, stopping only when she saw Howard standing near her doorway. She looked up at him for a moment before she understood he was there for her, "Howard would you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone." Howard just nodded and followed her into the bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: The holidays have been very busy for me, I find it hard to find time to write, with all that is happening, that is why this update is late and is shorter than usual.**

**Chapter 12 - Lies**

They slept late, really late, the noises, from outside the room, would occasionally partially wake them up, but then they would pull each other tighter together and fall quickly back to asleep. After a week of a tight schedule and hard work, they both just wanted to lay in bed, cuddle and sleep, so now that was exactly what they were doing. They were so bad that one time even, when Penny woke up, she remembered she had to pack and move today so she woke Leonard partially up to tell him. However, before a word could leave her mouth he pulled her comfortably closer which made her even more content in bed with him and she forgot what she had on her mind, just going back to sleep.

It was one in the afternoon before they actually found themselves awake at the same time, finally laying face to face with both their eyes open, their arms on each others body, still reluctant to leave their warm comfortable nest. "We should probably get up." Leonard whispered to her, his nose almost touching hers.

Penny's hand was on his chest, her thumb touching his nipple, and she felt his hand on her back, gently rubbing circles on it, making her feel so good, she felt like a blob of boneless flesh unable to move. "Yeah, I guess." she said with a sigh.

Saying they should move, was one thing, but moving was another, and Leonard found he had trouble making any effort to get out of bed when she was so close to him. Her hair was a mess, and half of it was in her face, she had no makeup on and her eyes had a sort of bedroom look to them, Leonard thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his years of life on this earth. She was a goddess and him being able to touch her was like a gift from the gods, a gift he knew he couldn't waste as he moved closer to her to catch her lips in his.

It was bad enough that they were cozy, comfortable and happy in each others arms, but now they were nuzzling and kissing each other, so again all thoughts of leaving their bed was forgotten. They didn't even hear Howard and Bernadette move the last of their stuff outside and then leave to get lunch. It was another ten minutes later, with Penny on top of Leonard, kissing his face that he finally grabbed her sides to move her so he could get them up. Penny was having too much fun smothering him in kisses so getting out of her little love nest was something she didn't want to do. "Don't you want to kiss me anymore?" she whined with an adorable pout on her face as she looked at him, breaking down his will.

"Penny, don't you need to be out of here by 4 and get them the keys by 5?" Leonard tried to explain to get her up.

Penny responded by crawling back on him, while putting her lips back on his while her hand slipped down his boxers finding what she wanted almost immediately. Leonard was loosing this battle with her fast, especially after her other hand grabbed his hand and shoved it up the large leg opening of her sleep shorts. Leonard surrendered, Penny was now in control, and once she got his hand in the right spot, her hand then when to the back of his head to bury it in his hair while she pulled his head to crush their mouths together. This went on for a couple minutes, until Penny pulled her mouth off his, panting in arousal, "Please Leonard, take me now." while she tried to pull him into her, at the same time as she tried to scoot down on him.

Penny's efforts were rewarded as Leonard eased into her, her arms now wrapping around his head as she pulled him so hard against her, if she exerted any more pressure, Leonard was sure they would bruise their lips. They were both so aroused, it was only 20 minutes later that Leonard was laying on his back recovering while Penny was still laying on top of him where she collapsed from her massive release. They laid like that for another 10 minutes, Penny nuzzling Leonard's neck, with her eyes closed, slowly drifting off from her very satisfying romp and now tired body.

"Penny, you can't go to sleep." Leonard whispered to her while trying to gently shake her from going to sleep.

"Leonard." she whined, trying to get more comfortable on him. "I don't wanna move."

"We are going to have a mess soon." He tried to reason with her.

"Why, I'm plugged." She giggled.

"Not for long." he responded.

Penny tried to wiggle herself down more on him, with limited success. "Penny that isn't going to work, yet." Leonard whispered to her.

"Just like a guy, 'wham bam thank you ma'am'." Penny giggled.'

"Hey! I was the one attacked and used as a sex toy." Leonard protested.

Penny giggled, "Yeah, I did do that, and you did very well Honey." Penny kissed his neck.

"But now we need to pack." Leonard slid out of her and rolled her over on to the bed.

"You're no fun." Penny got out before she had to grab a couple tissues and then run off to the bathroom to clean up.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It actually didn't take Penny long to pack, since she just put everything, that would fit, she had brought with her back into her bags, the rest going in some boxes, so she didn't have to think about anything more than collecting up everything. Her and Leonard having everything stacked in the living room at half past three, then sitting on the couch and waiting. Penny then immediately thought of something to make the time go by, while they waited, which resulted in her crawling into Leonard's lap and making out with him.

Like when they woke up, it got really heated fast, Penny having Leonard's shirt unbuttoned and her top pulled up above her breasts so she could rub her bare chest against his while they kissed. This of course only escalated things, so when Penny had herself straddling Leonard's lap, practically dry humping him, then moaning into his mouth from arousal, Leonard decided to stop. "Penny we can't here, what if Howard and Bernadette come back."

Penny sat back from Leonard, her eyes black from arousal, her shirt pulled up exposing her chest, breathing hard and a little adorable pout on her lips. Leonard almost gave up again, barely keeping his perspective on what they should be doing, even though his desire for her almost matched her own right now. "Penny, maybe later, if you still want to."

Penny just looked at him and silently nodded, as Leonard gently pulled her top back down for her, after he took his hands off her breasts, where she had put them. Penny had felt cheated, concerning Leonard all those weeks, and now just wanted him all the time, either with her, or intimately like before and now, she felt she was catching up for lost time. Once she was decent again she just leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and putting her head on his shoulder. She never wanted this to end, she wanted him always now, her initial crush on him growing to a full blown need for him and his touch, which in turn now made her feel insecure. "Leonard, will you go out with me when we get back to California and be my boyfriend?" She never talked to him about what would happen after they left Jamaica, she had been scared to, but now she needed to know if he was going to stay with her.

"If you want me." Leonard answered.

She squeezed him a little tighter, "Of course I want you." 'I need you, I love you' she thought, "I guess I was just wondering how you felt about me."

"I don't understand?" Leonard really didn't understand what she was getting at.

"You know, about me. Girls usually sleep with guys they like, a lot. At least when sober." She giggled, trying to lighten the fear she now felt clenching at her stomach.

"So you like me a lot." He was glad her head was turned away from his on his shoulder, because he had a huge grin on his face. Never in is his life had a girl like Penny said that to him, it made him feel so good to be desired by someone like her.

"Leonard, please don't tease me." Penny whined. "I'm being honest with you."

"I like you a lot too. I would love to date you when we get back. I would like to be your boyfriend and even have a relationship with you, if you want." Leonard quickly told her.

Penny smiled. "I want that…a relationship, I mean."

Leonard chuckled, "I never went with a college girl before. This is a first for me."

"College girl?" Penny was suddenly confused.

"Yeah, you guys all go to college right, except for Amy of course, she probably teaches or does research like me." Leonard asked her.

"Yes, of course." Penny panicked, not knowing what he knew and not knowing what to say, so she lied, thinking, 'Crap,' she then got scared, both for lying and then for wondering what Leonard would think if he found out she didn't go to college. The fears she wasn't smart enough for him immediately coming up in her mind again.

"I was going to ask you, what is your field of study?" Leonard asked

That question made Penny panic more, she was going to have to lie again, "Like Bernadette." She was just digging herself in deeper with these lies, but once she started she didn't know how to stop.

"Really?" it sort of surprised Leonard, he never heard her and Bernadette talk anything about school together.

Penny felt she was sliding downhill, out of control, with this lie to him and it was making her so nervous she was about to cry. Then suddenly the door to the house opened to save her, as Amy and Katie, with their guys, walked in looking for her, "Penny your phone is turned off." Katie stated as soon as she saw her.

"Hey guys." Penny said with immense relief, as she lifted her head off Leonard's shoulder to look at them. "I think it is dead, I haven't used it for a while." Changing the subject was exactly what she wanted to do right now.

"Well Sandy has been trying to get in touch with you for two days." Katie started to tell her.

Now Penny panicked again, staring at Katie, trying to will her to shut up. If they started talking about her agent, Leonard would know everything she told him before was a lie. Penny felt like she was sliding down that hill again, she knew she had to think of something fast or she was screwed.

Leonard looked at her confused, "Sandy?"

Penny knew her only options were to lie again or tell Leonard truth, so looking at him she whispered, "My boss." then looking at Katie and Amy, "You don't have to tell me, I'll call her back." giving them a glare she hoped they understood was for them to not continue talking.

Amy and Katie looked at each other then back at Penny, "Well you need to call her quick." Katie added.

"I will! Lets not discuss this now." Penny abruptly said, making Katie and Amy look at her wide eyed and just nod. Everyone was now staring at Penny after her outburst, making her even more nervous. Penny went into acting mode, "It is just she calls, not caring if she ruins my vacation, it gets me a little upset." then she gave a nervous chuckle as she glared at Amy and Katie, again.

"You're not in trouble for staying another week." Leonard asked her innocently.

"No Sweetie, I'm fine. Forget about it." Penny wanted so bad to stop Leonard from asking questions. "Umm, why don't you guys take my stuff over to your place in the car and Katie, Amy and I will give the house one last check before we lock up. Then after you drop off the stuff you can come back and get us." She just wanted to get Leonard out of there right now before she fell apart.

Leonard nodded, "Okay, you guys want to help?" William and Jack grabbed boxes and helped Leonard load the car.

No sooner than the guys drove away, Amy turned to Penny, "What is going on, saying Sandy is your boss and is bugging you."

Penny fell into the couch and sighed. "Leonard doesn't know about me. He thinks Bernadette, Katie and me go to college and he knows you are a PHD, so probably teach or do research like him."

Katie chuckled, "College huh, he really fell for that."

Penny gave her a glaring look, "For me and Bernadette, yeah, but for you he seemed suspicious." making Amy giggle.

"Hey! I'm just as smart as you." Katie protested, which made Amy giggle harder. Katie turned to Amy, "SHUT UP!"

Amy bit her lip, then looked at Penny, "Penny he is going to find out, you know that."

Penny nodded, "I know."

"You have to tell him." Amy told her.

"I know." Penny responded.

"Sooner is better, before he finds out for himself." Penny just nodded to her. Amy looked at her, "When were you going to tell him?" she asked suspiciously.

Penny sighed, "I don't know…..after he proposed….I don't know."

"Oh My God Penny, you already know how many children you want with him, don't you." Katie exclaimed, getting a surprised look from Amy.

Amy had to know, "How many Penny?"

Penny rubbed her hands together nervously, then whispered "Three."

"Oh crap." Amy said under her breath. She then looked at Katie, "You knew about this? That she had this crush on him?" Katie nodded, "This was going on when Bernadette was with him, wasn't it?" Katie nodded again.

"It is not a crush, I really care for him, this is the real thing." Penny defended herself.

"Penny, did you ever think about that this may be a rebound thing. Your breakup with Tom was hard and you have been moping around all year. Leonard is great and he treats you like you should be treated, but are you jumping into this too fast?" Amy told her friend.

Penny now had a couple tears in her eyes, "I don't know, but I want him. He makes me feel so good when he is with me and I miss him so badly when he is away from me. He is nothing like Tom was, he makes me feel special and I think he is special, I need him." Penny then looked down at her hands and whispered, "I love him."

Amy just stared at her, not knowing what to say, she never saw her friend like this before. "Does Leonard know?" she finally asked.

"Yes, he agreed he is my boyfriend and we agreed we are in a relationship. We are going to date when we get back and be together." Penny informed Amy, her voice now with a hopeful ring to it.

"So Leonard doesn't have a problem of being the boyfriend of an up and coming movie star. He doesn't have a problem with how the press is going to be all over you two." Amy asked her.

Tears started down Penny's cheeks, again. "I don't know."

Amy now felt bad, pushing Penny this way, she had been fragile since she broke up with Tom, he had really screwed her up, by using her. "I'm sorry Penny. It will probably be okay. Leonard is a nice guy, he'll adapt."

"You think so." Penny looked at Amy with hope, and Amy nodded.

Katie now jumped in, "Do you want to know what Sandy told us to tell you?"

Penny nodded, so Katie continued. "First, she said to turn on your damm phone, her words, not mine. Then she said they are doing the photo shoot, you promised to do when you told her you were staying another week, this Monday."

"Monday?" Penny said in surprise.

"Yeah, Monday. She is flying in right now and will get in tonight on a private jet, with Tom and his people. Tomorrow they want to all meet in the afternoon. They want you there at 4." Katie explained

"Not Tomorrow." Penny whined.

"Penny you promised to do this photo shoot with Tom for the movie public relations release. You can't back out, a lot of people are on their way here now." Amy reminded her.

"I know…Okay." Penny responded in defeat, then she looked at her friends. "Please don't say a thing to Leonard about this. I will tell him, okay?" Amy and Katie just nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 - You Can't Hide From The Truth**

The morning had started out awkward for Bernadette, the talk with Leonard the night before being very emotional for her, so emotional that she just hung on to Howard for a while, after they went in her bedroom and closed the door, just crying. She knew Howard was confused, but he never pushed her about talking about it, when she told him she didn't want to, but that just made it difficult on her now. She couldn't help thinking about how he just held her all night, actually comforting her more than he knew, and she knew he was the only reason she had been able to sleep at all that night. So now in the morning she just felt guilt, and it confused her that the guilt she felt towards Howard bothered her more than the grief caused by what happened last night with Leonard.

The only thing that made the morning pass was that they didn't have to deal with Leonard or Penny, since they slept in late, and that they had to finish her packing, so they kept busy. It had actually been a relief when, as soon as they finished packing Bernadette's last item, Howard suggested lunch, taking away the need for Bernadette to say something about what was happening with her. Howard even making the trip to the restaurant comfortable by just making mindless talk about the local area, while throwing in little jokes to make her giggle.

However now at the restaurant, Bernadette knew she had to really talk to him. "Howie, have you know Leonard long? How did you meet?"

"I don't know, I guess you could say nerds seem to flock together. You girls probably understand, the beautiful people seem to do that too." Howard said, to explain his and Leonard's friendship.

"So it has nothing to do with you building one of a kind stuff for NASA and Leonard working for Hawking." Bernadette almost stated as a fact to him. "You think maybe smart people flock together?"

Howard chuckled, "Nice of you to say, but it still doesn't not make us nerds."

Bernadette thought he was adorable and it hurt her a little, him putting himself down, he was so much better than that. So the next words came out without any thought, "I like nerds."

Howard stopped eating and just looked at her, obviously not knowing what to say, so Bernadette just continued. "So I like you too."

Howard smiled shyly, "I like you too."

Bernadette could tell he didn't really understand, so she took it one step farther by reaching over the table and taking his hand. "I mean I really like you Howie."

Howard swallowed hard, as what she was saying finally sunk in, it both made him feel giddy and terrified at the same time, as he worried about screwing up what he now had with her. She was so beautiful, she was the kind of girl he had always dreamed about, but never thought would ever have anything to do with him, and they could talk to each other. If anything, that was the most amazing thing about her, she liked talking to him, and it was easy to talk to her, Howard thought she was just perfect.

They just stared at each other for a couple of minutes, before Howard got the courage to say something, "Does this mean we can date, like a boyfriend and girlfriend?" he felt stupid as soon as it was out of his mouth about how immature it sounded.

Bernadette giggled, she could see how nervous he was and to be honest she was too, but she wanted him to know how she felt. "I guess I already see us as boyfriend and girlfriend, if that is okay with you." She then smiled, "We have been sleeping with each other ever since you got here."

Howard blushed, "Yeah, but I thought that was just to keep you company….you know."

Bernadette looked down at their hands, she now felt shy telling him how she felt, but he deserved to know. "I tried to believe the same thing, you were just there comforting me, but Howie, I would be lying if I didn't tell you I wanted you there, I liked having you there sleeping with me."

"You did?" it was almost a whisper as Howard looked at her wide eyed, in happy surprise.

Bernadette nodded. "I did. Howie, I wasn't lying, I had issues going on, but I wanted you around for more than just simple comfort…I liked you being around me. You were so nice and you make me feel good, and I guess now I want more."

Howard nodded, "Issues with Leonard and Penny, right?"

Bernadette was shocked, he knew all along, how did she not understand that. He knew she was using him for a short time and it broke her heart he knew, making a couple tears run down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry Howard. Please believe me I never did it intentionally and you mean more to me than that."

Howard nodded and gave her a small smile, then reached over with his napkin to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "It is okay…..it lead to this point between us, so I have no complaints."

Bernadette smiled at him, her heart now crushing more for him, "It did, didn't it, Honey."

Howard chuckled and nodded, "So, does this mean we get to kiss."

Bernadette's smile got bigger, as she got out of the booth seat across from Howard and sat on his side so she could be closer to him. No sooner that their bodies touched her moving up to his lips, as he covered the remaining distance to hers, to complete their kiss. The waitress bringing their drink refills stopped when she saw the young couple holding each other while they passionately kissed, then turned around thinking she could bring the drinks back in couple of minutes. Besides she needed to splash some water on her face to cool down, these tropical paradise romances sometimes really got to her.

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Howard and Bernadette showed up before the guys returned, "Hope we didn't keep you waiting long." Howard gave them a little apologetic smile as he walked in.

"Nope, we were just finishing up here." Penny told him, while Amy and Katie stood by quietly, everyone acting like everything was fine.

"Well we emptied the SUV at the house from Bernadette's move, so we have plenty of room for your stuff, now." Howard added, looking at the girls.

"The guys took my stuff, we were just going through the house to make sure we didn't leave anything." Penny again spoke for everyone, Amy and Katie just nodding.

"Come on guys, lets do a quick check." Penny said with forced cheer, while her friends started to look around the place with her.

Bernadette knew something was up just by the demeanor of her friends, so while she looked with the girls she edged herself close to Amy and whispered, "What is going on?"

Amy took a quick look at Penny, seeing her go into her bedroom, "Penny has a photo shoot with Tom on Monday and Sandy wants her to come to a pre-shoot meeting and dinner tomorrow. She hasn't told Leonard yet."

"Oh." was all Bernadette could say.

"She said she is going to tell Leonard, so we are suppose to keep our mouths shut about it till she does." Amy added.

"Okay." Bernadette responded, then went to double check her room again.

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It was just over two hours later, when everyone was back at Leonard's beach house, the girls now homeless, their house keys turned in, but not bed less since they all had a place to sleep. They all went out for dinner that evening, then had a few drinks and danced, basically having a pleasant evening. The girls kept their mouths shut about the next day, like Penny wanted, so the evening turned out a little quieter than normal for the group and each couple separated off to have their own good time. Penny kept Leonard to herself and started drinking, not to get drunk like before, but to build a little courage to tell Leonard about the next day. The guilt she was feeling, from lying to him before, was bothering her and she thought if she took a little liquid courage she could get over her fear and tell him the truth. At least that was her plan, when they went to the club that night, however, there was a fine line between when you had enough alcohol to give you courage and when you had too much.

Dancing with Leonard and drinking maybe a little more than she planned, seemed to change her fixation to only one thing, when the night was about over, bedding Leonard. So when Howard, Bernadette, Leonard and her, separated from Katie, Amy and their guys, and went to the guys beach house, Penny pulled Leonard into the bedroom and had her way with him. This went on for a while until they both fell asleep exhausted, Penny never remembering the important information she had to tell.

The four of them slept late, Bernadette and Howard, not getting asleep until Penny's very vocal sexual romp with Leonard ended. So it was in the afternoon before Bernadette and Howard, saw the couple finally come out of Leonard's bedroom, both the worse for wear. "I need coffee." the only words coming from Penny's mouth.

"I'll brew a new pot." Howard volunteered.

Bernadette was sure Penny had told Leonard what was going on today, so she just asked her friend the obvious. "Penny you probably need to hurry, if you are going to make the meeting and dinner on time."

Sleepy Penny changed to wide awake Penny in that moment, as Leonard looked at her confused. "What meeting and dinner?"

This was not the way Penny wanted him to find out, but she knew she had no one to blame but herself. "Leonard I have a work meeting and dinner at four, I forgot to tell you about last night."

"Work?" Leonard seemed now more confused.

Penny looked at the clock, Bernadette was right she had to hurry. "Sweetie, can you just get some slacks on and a shirt and go with me. I tell you more when we get there okay. I need to get in the shower now."

Leonard could tell she was stressed and hurried, so he just nodded, as she turned to go to the bathroom, then looked at Howard, who knew nothing either and just shrugged. He heard the shower running before turning to Bernadette, who seemed to know something that was going on. "What is this about a meeting and dinner?"

Bernadette stared at him, not knowing what to say as her mind went over her options. She could tell Leonard everything and let the chips fall where them may, but that was cruel and Bernadette wasn't really that kind of girl. She had also told Penny she would keep it a secret until Penny told Leonard herself and Bernadette always kept secrets the best she could. There was only one real option, lie. "I'm not sure Leonard, she just mentioned she had a dinner and meeting to go too, she really didn't give us details." 'Penny owed her big time', Bernadette thought.

"So you know nothing about this?" Leonard asked.

'Crap' Bernadette thought, she was getting dragged deeper into this lie, "You really should probably talk to Penny about it."

Leonard looked at Bernadette for a few seconds and could almost see the stress in her too, it immediately making him feel guilty, he had stressed Bernadette way too much lately, so he gave her a small smile, "Okay, thanks Bernadette." he then went to the bedroom to pick up clothes, trim his beard and get ready, for what he had no idea.

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It was a little after three when the large Mercedes car came to pick them up, surprising Leonard, but his surprise was short lived, because Penny coming out of the bedroom stunned him. She was in very stylish clothes, with he guessed very expensive shoes, wearing more makeup then he ever saw her in. Her hair was up very nice and she seemed to strut up to him, a big smile on her face, she looked absolutely stunning and Leonard would have guessed she was a movie star instead of the Penny he knew, if he didn't know better.

Penny walked over to straighten his collar, even though it was fine, she just wanted an excuse to touch him. He trimmed his beard very short, so it just looked like a day or two's growth, he looked so sexy it made Penny's heart race. He was also wearing nice slacks and a dressy tropical shirt, looking perfect for where they were going. "Sweetie, you clean up nice." she whispered.

Leonard gave her a smile, "I could say the same thing about you, but you looked nice to start with."

Penny smiled wider, "Oh, Sweetie." she then kissed his cheek, taking her thumb to wipe off the lipstick after she removed her lips.

The trip to the hotel was quiet, Leonard not really knowing what to say, Penny's persona seeming so different than the girl he knew running around in shorts and tank tops. She looked a little exotic and Leonard couldn't get out of his head that she looked like a celebrity the way she was dressed. They did talk a little about nothing in particular and smiled at each other a lot while they rode, but Leonard still didn't know what they were doing and felt it was better to wait till she told him, instead of him just asking.

Penny, was nervous, not because of the meeting or dinner, but because she needed to tell Leonard what was happening and who she was. It would have been easier to tell him if she hadn't lied before and knowing he would know she lied was keeping her from just coming out with it. It occupied her mind so much, she was actually surprised when the hotel suddenly appeared and they car they were in pulled up to it.

Leonard stared out the door in confusion, there were photographers standing outside, plus bigger men who seemed to be keeping them behind some line. It seemed surreal, and Leonard couldn't help thinking these were the kind of things that happened to celebrities, not college students like Penny told him she was. However, those thoughts were shaken, when Leonard saw Penny pull sunglasses out of her bag and put them on, as she was helped out of the car by the driver. Leonard just sat there stunned until Penny turned to give him worried smile, 'Sweetie are you coming?" obvious concern in her voice, which finally got Leonard up and following her.

Katie showed up almost immediately after Penny got Leonard out of the car, dressed very business like, which again surprised Leonard because she usually dressed with the least clothes of all the girls in their group. Leonard not knowing that Katie was technically Penny's employee, her assistant to be exact and today was one of the days she had to do her job. It was overwhelming to Leonard, as he was whisked away into the hotel to a special ball room that was already almost full and taken to a seat by Katie, at a table, while Penny was surrounded by people Leonard didn't know.

Penny had been saying hello to all the people who she knew, while trying to watch Leonard and how he was taking everything in. There wasn't much she could do now, she had to be Penelope the actress and be charming to all the important people who were there today. However, even though she had a smile on her face, her gut was churning as she realized she had made a big mistake with Leonard, by not telling him who she was before she brought him there. He looked lost, stunned and confused, and it broke her heart to see him like that, knowing she was the cause for his current situation.

Leonard sat in his chair, just watching Penny talk to people, he was actually temporarily feeling a little better being away from everything, to be able to just watch what was going around him. He became so involved watching everything around him that he didn't even notice Katie walk up and bend down to talk to him. He actually jumped when she began to speak.

"Leonard, you need to stay here during the dinner." Katie stopped when she saw she scared him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you."

Leonard nodded, "I didn't see you come up, sorry."

"Like I said, Penny will be eating at the next table, those seats are all spoken for, by some pretty important people, so the best I could get for you was here." Katie explained

"Katie do you work here?" Leonard didn't know what was going on now, his previous thoughts of them being college students completely forgotten after seeing all this.

"I am Penny's personal assistant." Katie told him, then gave him a small smile as she went off to someone who was waving at her.

Leonard was now even more confused, as he tried to understand what was happening, 'Katie was her Personal Assistant?', who was Penny that she needed a personal assistant. He looked over at Penny and saw her surrounded by people, each one trying to talk to her at once, he felt he should go over there and rescue her from them, but as he watched he saw she was handling things well herself. He saw her take a quick look at him, so he did the only thing he could think of, he smiled and nodded, seeing her smile then go back to her talking with the people around her. Leonard then looked at the table he was sitting at and wondered what in world was happening and who is this woman he fell in love with.

The dinner was strange, Leonard listened to the people around him at his table, and became quickly bored, they seemed more concerned on where there money went than anything else. He also noticed how effortlessly they ignored him, which really wasn't a bad thing, because he didn't have anything to add to their conversation and didn't even want to get involved in it. He glanced at Penny a couple times at the other table and gave her canned smile whenever she looked at him, hoping she would think everything was okay. However, he just wanted to leave, he never thought anything in his life could have been as awkward as his senior prom, when his date left him as soon as he arrived, but this was worse, much worse.

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It was after dinner, when a couple of the public relations people, from the movie group, grabbed Penny, after she had eaten her desert, pulling her over to the photographers to discuss the shoot tomorrow. Sandy watched as Penny gave an apologetic glace towards the man she came in with and he gave her a little nod in return. However, Sandy who was sitting closer to him could see the tension in his every movement as he did it, something Penny wouldn't notice being so far away. Penny was important client to Sandy's company, plus Sandy liked her so she needed to find out what was going on before things got out of control.

Sandy got up and went to sit in a now vacant chair next to the man, everyone now getting up to mingle again, except him, now that dinner was over. As soon as she sat down she turned to him, "Hi, did Katie tell you I'm Sandy, Penny's agent?" Sandy started out with him.

"No, I'm sorry you have me at a disadvantage." Leonard told her. "I'm Leonard Hofstadter." Leonard offered her his hand to shake.

"Well I'm Sandy Brandson, Leonard." Sandy then saw his hand.

Sandy shook his hand, he was polite at least, but again that tense feeling seemed to radiate from him, "Is something wrong Leonard?"

"Um…..I know you are her agent, but I'm not sure what Penny does to require an agent." Leonard confessed.

"Didn't anyone tell you? Didn't Penny?" Sandy was very surprised that he didn't know Penny was an actress.

Leonard shook his head, "No, but I am guessing she is some type of celebrity, the way people are treating her." Leonard said, a sad tone in his voice.

Sandy made a living on understanding people, so his response was not lost on her as she wondered why he seemed so disappointed. Sandy needed to find out more what was going on between them and quick, Penny was becoming a big client for her and she needed to protect that cash cow. "She is a movie star, Leonard." Sandy thought that she might rip the band aide right off and see how he reacted.

Leonard looked at her, a little stunned, he never really expected that answer, even though now that he heard it, it made perfect sense. "Oh." he said quietly.

Sandy was surprised at his response, he had seemed surprised when she told him then seemed to shrink into himself, like he suddenly became shy, and not talkative. Sandy wanted to know more and talking about Penny was not doing well right now, so she decided to change the subject and talk about him. "So do you live in Jamaica or are just on vacation?" She hoped that made him talk again.

"Neither really. I am down here working." Leonard simply responded.

Sandy noticed he didn't seem to want to converse, but she wanted to keep him talking, before he clamed up on her completely, "Really, what kind of work are you doing?" Sandy immediately thinking he was a bartender or some kind of vacation time employee they used during the busy season.

"I have been taking and forwarding data all summer back to Cambridge. We had sensors set up off the coast here to take undersea measurements to correlate with data we obtained in the North Sea, last year." Leonard explained.

Sandy just stared at him, his utter confidence about what he was saying and what he was saying, made her wonder more who he was. "What exactly do you do for a living Leonard?"

"I am a Research Experimental Physicist at Cal Tech in California, but right now I am being loaned to Dr Hawking's group to work this research." Leonard answered.

Sandy's eyes went wide, everyone in Hollywood knew who Hawking was, especially after the movie came out about him. "You work with Hawking?"

Leonard gave her a small sad smile, "Well, I work for him, I don't think any of us are intelligent enough to work with him."

Sandy was just stared at him again, when at that second Penny came running up and gave Leonard a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so sorry Sweetie, it is just crazy here, I just wanted to make sure you are alright." Leonard looked up at her in surprise, just like Sandy.

Leonard gave her a small smile and nodded, "I'm fine, don't worry."

Penny then smiled as the public relations people called her over, again, looking at Sandy. "Take care of my doctor Sandy." Penny then leaned down to kiss Leonard's cheek again, lingering a second to say in his ear, "I love you." Then she ran off to where they were waiting for her.

Sandy watched her go, then looked at an uncomfortable Leonard, still wondering what was wrong, Sandy had heard the 'I love you'. She also wondered why did Penny said to 'take care of my doctor?'

"I thought you said you said you are a physicist? Are you a doctor, too." Sandy asked

Leonard sighed, then looked at Sandy, "I am a PHD in physics, I guess I should have introduced myself as Dr Leonard Hofstadter…..I'm sorry."

Sandy was now dumbfounded, where in the world did Penny find him in Jamaica and then fall in love with him. It their world people like him didn't exist, they were people you read about and make movies about, like they did with Hawking. Sandy then suddenly thought she knew why Penny told her to take care of her doctor, Sandy had told Penny Tom was too stupid for her, after they broke up, because he only new two things, how to chase girls and act, nothing else. Sandy found him boring to talk too, especially after you got over his looks and his player attitude. It now made Sandy wonder if Penny didn't pick this guy up just to prove she could get smarter guys and was trying to show it to everyone else.

Sandy decided to get to the bottom line on all this. "It is a little surprising to me, how two people so different from each other, could get together like you and Penny did." Sandy was now wondering what attracted this genius to Penny, her looks or her money?

Leonard looked at Sandy, her question making a lot of sense to him, because he had been wondering the same thing, since they got there, 'Why did Penny want him, she seemed to have everything already.' "To be honest, I don't really know." he admitted to her.

Sandy now thought he was hiding something, "You don't know? She is pretty and has a lot of money, surely they are a factor."

'Yes they are' Leonard thought, those were two of the reasons she could have any man she wanted, instead of him. She was also sweet, caring, loving and he just loved being around her, she was just perfect. He had absolutely no idea why someone so perfect would like a nerd like him, it didn't make sense and it just made him understand more that it was doomed between them, even her agent saw it. "I really have no idea." he finally responded, then just stared ahead, not really looking at anything, loosing himself in his thoughts.

Sandy could see he was thinking, she was now even more concerned and confused than when she sat down. She needed more information, and was about to ask him more questions, when her assistant walked up to her and bent down to whisper in her ear. Sandy sighed, one of the producers of the movie wanted to talk to her about something, they were thinking about a new movie and they figured Penny would be good in. Sandy had to talk to him, so she looked at Leonard, "Sorry, I have to leave, business. I hope I get to talk to you later. Nice meeting you Dr Hofstadter."

"You too." Leonard simply responded as Sandy quickly got up and left, she seemed to just have dismissed him, not even looking back at him to acknowledge is response.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 - Changes**

"Sir would you like something to drink?" the waitress asked Leonard.

Leonard turned to look at her and realized she was the first person to talk to him in the last hour. He smiled at the young woman, "An ice tea would be nice."

Everyone, since they had eaten, were now in groups again talking, leaving Leonard alone at his table, at least alone mentally, because there were still a couple physically at the table talking and ignoring him. It made Leonard realize he didn't belong there, he was no more than a piece of furniture to the people there and they might as well have been speaking a foreign language for all he had in common with them. Even Penny seemed like a different person, she was the center of attention here, and although he understood she had to socialize as part of her celebrity status, it only made it clearer to Leonard that they were both very different people living in very different worlds.

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It had now been a couple hours after dinner and Penny was still with Sandy and some other people talking about a future part in a movie, when Sandy started to notice how distracted Penny was getting. Penny seemed to be only hearing half of what people were saying anymore, as she now kept looking over at her boyfriend every couple minutes. Sandy needed to do something, because in this business, peoples egos needed to be stroked and Penny's disinterest could be considered an insult to the wrong people. "Penny, Honey, you seem tired." Sandy said so everyone around them could hear.

Penny was thinking about Leonard and suddenly Sandy's comment seemed like a way to get out of there and back to him. "I know, I'm sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night, I apologize." Penny told everyone around her, and was happy to see most had sympathetic nods.

"Since you have to get up early tomorrow, for the shoot, and look beautiful, Honey, I really think you need to get some sleep now." Sandy told her and again most of the people around her agreed, some even telling her she did probably needed to get to sleep early.

Penny smiled, "Yes your probably right, Sandy, I'm sorry everyone, but tomorrow starts early for me." She then either kissed the cheek of or shook the hand of the people around her before she turned and headed to Leonard, Sandy on her heals. The thought of crawling into bed with Leonard, the only thing on her mind at the moment.

Penny watched Leonard stand up as she approached, and she gave him a kiss on his cheek as soon as she was close enough to him. She actually was restraining herself, she really wanted to just wrap her arms around him and kiss him deeply, but there were too many people there, so she would save that for later. "I'm sorry Sweetie." she told him and gave him an apologetic little pout.

Leonard didn't really know what to say, so he just was polite, "That is fine, I could see you were busy."

Penny nodded, a big smile on her face, as she whispered to him, "I'm yours now Honey…all night."

Sandy heard that, so now decided to jump in. "Um Penny, we have you booked in a room at the hotel for the night."

Penny looked at her in surprise, not knowing what to say, but finally blurted out in a form of protest, "But I don't have any of my stuff."

"We sent a car over during dinner and they brought your luggage over to the hotel, so everything is here in your room." Sandy told her.

Penny looked at her wide eyed, both in shock and confusion, but then a feeling of violation came over her and anger, they had taken her stuff from Leonard's. "What about Leonard's stuff, did you bring that too." Penny said, her voice rising.

Sandy stayed calm, she was use to dealing with actors, "No, we didn't know about him when we picked up you luggage."

Penny now was really getting angry. "Well…."

Leonard cut her off as he now spoke. "It is probably better for tonight Penny." Penny's head shot around to look at him is surprise. "Katie told me, a little bit ago, that you had to do a picture shoot starting at dawn tomorrow, so you need all the sleep you can get. Also Howard and I need to get some work done tomorrow in the morning."

Penny looked at him, 'didn't he know she slept so much better with him', she wondered. She was about to say something when Sandy spoke again. "Good then it is settled. Penny, Katie has you in a suite. She will be in the other bedroom there with you." Sandy then waved Katie over. "Leonard the car is ready to take you back to your beach house." Sandy purposely had Katie book a suite and had her in there with Penny after she found out about Penny's boyfriend.

Everything was happening so fast, Penny was overwhelmed, Leonard just nodded and then turned to leave for the car. Katie showing up only a moment later, making everything worse, Penny now feeling she was loosing control of everything around her. "Leonard?"

Leonard stopped and turned, "It is probably better that you are here tonight, with everything you have got going on tomorrow and I have a lot to do tomorrow too, so this is probably for the best." he then gave her a forced smile, "I probably need to get going….so you can get some rest. It is pretty late." Leonard just wanted to leave, he had so much to think about after that night and he just wanted to get away.

Penny nodded, suddenly feeling horrible as she watched Leonard turn to leave and then go through the hotel door to the car, as she realized he didn't even kiss her. Penny was so confused, she didn't even remember being lead to the suite by Katie or anything Katie said, her mind was so focused on what just happened with Leonard. Those thoughts ran through her mind as she got ready for bed and made her shiver under the covers as she started to think she really screwed up with him. That night she had a restless sleep and she was only finally able to fully sleep after she convinced herself she would fix things with him tomorrow, when she got to see him again.

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The next day Amy was sitting on Leonard's porch watching him slowly come up the beach. She had been with Penny all morning and had watched her friend as she got more worried and concerned why Leonard wasn't there at her shoot. Amy could now understand her concern, in all the weeks she had known him she had never seen him walk so slow, something was definitely up. What made things worse, was that Howard had returned from their work a half hour earlier in the SUV, telling Amy that Leonard decided to walk so he could think. The last time she saw him anyway like this was when Katie told her about the love triangle between him, Penny and Bernadette.

That was another problem, she needed to talk to him but Bernadette and Howard were still there, well at least Bernadette, Howard had just stepped out to stock up the drinks in house and picked the absolutely worse time to do it, leaving Amy and Leonard with an alone Bernadette. Talking to Leonard about Penny is not something Amy wanted to do in front of her best friend Bernadette.

"Amy what is wrong." Bernadette had come up behind Amy and was now watching Leonard trudging up the beach, she could tell by his posture and walk something was up.

"Leonard didn't know who Penny is and no one told him till last night." Amy explained.

It never dawned on Bernadette that Leonard finding out who Penny was would upset him, and she didn't know that he didn't know Penny was a movie star. "Really he is upset because of that."

"I'm not sure but something happened after he found out. Penny has been doing that photo shoot since dawn and she is very concerned he has not been there, she is afraid she messed things up with him. Bernadette, I think she really needs him there for support."

"Well maybe he doesn't want to go." The way that came out of Bernadette's mouth even surprised her and it made Amy glare at her. Her tone was full of resent.

Amy turned to her friend, "Penny is your friend, you know it is going to be hard for her to be around Tom today, especially now that she loves Leonard, why are you acting like this. Do you think she wants to hold Tom now, even for some photos, when she cares so much for Leonard."

'Loves Leonard' made old feelings rise up in Bernadette again, wounds she was getting over with Howard, but still weren't completely healed. "Well maybe Leonard doesn't feel the same way about her." After saying it Bernadette suddenly felt a little foolish, however, her emotions had now taken over and things she wanted to say since that night with Leonard were finally coming out.

Amy looked at her, "Bernadette you are my best friend, but believe me that you have to let Leonard go."

Now Bernadette was getting really upset, tears welling up in her eyes, the pain of being let go by Leonard for Penny, coming completely out, "Why does Penny get to have all of them, I really liked him, why do I have to give up guys like him to her."

"Bernadette Honey, do you see the way they look at each other, there is an attraction there that goes beyond just physical. I'm so sorry, but that is not what you and Leonard had." Amy now actually felt sorry for her, she could see the pain in her friend.

"He cares for me, I know it." Bernadette was still sadly defiant, the pain of the last few days now fresh in her again.

"Yes he does, I can see that. Leonard cares for you a lot, much more that a friend, but Penny has his heart. Just like you have Howard's."

Bernadette just stared at Amy, trying to process her words, her feelings for Howard now coming back to the surface, and again thoughts of him diminishing the pain about Leonard. "You really think I have Howard's heart?" she asked, the words now softly spoken

Amy nodded, "You have been so wrapped up in Leonard, when Howard came here you don't even see how he looks at you. It is the same way Leonard looks at Penny and you don't even notice that you have been flirting with Howard ever since he arrived. Bernadette you asked him to watch over you while you got drunk the first night he was here, don't you think that means you have some kind of immediate attraction to him?"

Bernadette just stared ahead, finally seeing Leonard turn to walk up the path to the house. "I'm going inside so you two can talk." She then got up and went to Howard's room, she had some thinking to do. The talk her and Howard had on Saturday coming back to her and the need to understand her true feelings for him, now very important to her.

Leonard was surprised to see Amy on the porch, "Hi Amy." he then saw she was not smiling and got worried, "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, you need to be at Penny's photo shoot, so hurry and get ready." Amy then just looked at him.

Leonard looked at her with an open mouth not knowing at first what to say, "Umm…..I'll just be in the way." was the only thing he could think of and it was really how he felt.

"How can you be in the way when she wants you there?" Amy countered.

Leonard shook his head, "Amy she is a movie star and I am a nerd, us being together is not how things are suppose to be, she just doesn't realize it yet."

"So her carrying for you is wrong? If you don't come and just forget her she will be devastated you know." Amy just stared at him, again.

Leonard stared back, "She'll get over that quickly, look at the guys she is around."

"You think so…You know the movie star Tom Lauton she is at the photo shoot with?" Amy asked and Leonard nodded, Lauton was most women's ideal man, handsome, sexy and built.

"Penny was engaged to him over a year ago." No sooner that Amy said that Leonard's eyes went wide.

"Was?" he asked and Amy just nodded, "Why would she break up with him?" Leonard was confused why Penny would leave one of the men that was listed in the list of ten sexiest in the world.

"She didn't dump him, he dumped her." Amy countered again.

"Why would anyone dump Penny?" Leonard couldn't understand.

Amy nodded, "You can't understand that because you love her, Tom didn't."

Leonard looked down at his hands, he did love her, but he knew it wouldn't work. "Amy there will always be men like Tom Lauton for Penny, she doesn't need me."

"Yes she does Leonard. The photo shoot is for publicity photos of her movie that going to be released. The movie she starred in with Tom Lauton, the movie he broke up with her while they were filming. She is taking photos with him today, romantic photos and she wants you there, she doesn't want to be there with Tom. It took her a year to get over Tom, and the only way she finally did it was because of you, she cares more about you, then she ever cared about Tom…..And Leonard, she loved Tom, but they never looked at each other like you two do."

Leonard sat there thinking, thinking hard, while Amy waited patiently for him to answer. He went over in his head what he felt about Penny and what the future could be between them, but thinking about her fame and beauty his mind kept telling him it wouldn't last and wasn't meant to be. However, he couldn't just disappear, that was too cruel, he had to tell her something, and Amy said she needed him now, so with despair he looked at Amy, "Let me get a shower first."

Leonard and Amy left a half hour later, the closing of the front door, making Bernadette come out of the bedroom, her taking Amy's unsaid advice and staying out of this current problem. It was another 15 minutes before Howard returned and as he put things away, happily talking to her, she stared at him trying to understand how she really felt. It was in those moments she understood what Amy meant, she liked him, that is why she told him those things at the restaurant only two days before, but now she wondered if her feelings for him were stronger than even she imagined. The next thing she did was more of instinct than real thought, she didn't trust her thoughts right now so she allowed the new feeling in her heart to take over. Howard finished putting things away and started to head to the couch she was on, she didn't wait, instead stood up and went to him, never stopping until she was so close he had to take her into his arms, she then lifted up and kissed him, kissed him hard.

The kiss was just suppose to see if there was a passion between them, she knew she really liked him, but she had to know how much, so this had been what she had come up with, while waiting for him. The kiss was also suppose to be short, but it wasn't, it went on and on and on, until they had to break it to breath, even then only moving their lips slightly apart while they stared at each other. She could see the confusion in his face, along with the happy surprise, and she saw his eyes were dilated in arousal, and arousal that she felt too. The passion was definitely there, but she was not that type of girl, was she, the sudden overcoming feeling of the need to claim him, filling her mind.

Bernadette looked at him, it was hard for her to ignore her heart screaming at her to take him, make him hers and for once she let her heart have its way. She lead him back to the couch and crawled into his lap, a place she had been before, a place she felt comfortable in, as their mouths crushed together again. Bernadette stopped thinking and let it happen, in the back of her mind knowing they were alone and would be alone for a while. It was without thought she unbuttoned his shirt and then helped him take her top and bra off, but then as soon as their now bare chests touched she knew there was no turning back and she surrendered completely to the feelings she had for this man, who now held her heart so intensely.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Amy and Leonard arrived to Penny's photo shoot in the afternoon, so when they got there, she had already been with Tom for hours, pictures being taken of him and her. The set up people had been there a couple days already, Tom's arrival being the trigger for putting everything in motion, since Penny was already there and him being the big star in this whole effort, Penny still not as big as him in the industry. There were even police hired to hold the crowds of onlookers back, so Amy had to call over Penny's agent before she and Leonard where let near the photo shoot. Penny's agent giving Amy a couple of strange looks when she saw Leonard with her.

"Leonard, could you just wait over there, while I talk to Penny's agent?" Leonard just nodded to Amy as he walked over to watch everything going on. Amy was still not happy with the way he was acting, he seemed to have drawn into himself again, on the way there, it was something she had not seen in him since they met him.

"Amy why did you bring Penny's boyfriend?" Sandy Brandson asked Amy as she got close. Sandy knew all of Penny's entourage quite well and knew they were good for her, they had really helped her the last year, after the messy breakup with Tom.

Amy nodded her head, "Penny wants him here, she was getting upset with him not being here." Amy watched Sandy's eyes go wide.

"What?" Sandy just stared at Amy.

Amy nodded, "This month has been very interesting, Sandy. Penny really wants this one."

"Amy tell me this isn't really that serious and once she leaves here, he is gone." Sandy did not like this new development, she thought last night that he was just a fling.

Amy shook her head, "Sandy this is more than serious. She is in love with him and that is the problem, he just found out who she was last night, and I'm afraid he is going to break her heart."

"You think he will take advantage of her because she is an actress?" Sandy was now getting a little angry.

Amy shook her head again, "I think he is going to break it off with her because she is an actress and he can't deal with it." Amy then looked at her hands as she spoke, "Sandy, she wants him, more than she ever wanted Tom, it will devastate her."

Sandy looked at her in surprise, however, Amy's words about him not being able to deal with Penny's celebrity status, made Sandy think.

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Sandy sat Leonard close enough to the shooting, so Penny could see him and a couple of photo shots after he sat, Penny noticed him and smiled as she gave him a little wave. Leonard waved back, but Sandy could see the restraint in his every movement as he did it, again something Penny wouldn't notice her being in front of the camera. Sandy couldn't let this get out of control, she had to get a handle on this all before something horrible happened and the man next to her seemed like the linchpin to the whole problem.

Sandy was just staring at him, when Penny came quickly up to him and gave Leonard a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for coming Sweetie." Leonard gave her a small smile, a little surprised at her sudden appearance. Penny smiled back as the makeup people called her back over, looking at Sandy. "Take care of him for me, Sandy." Penny then leaned down to kiss Leonard's cheek again, lingering a second to say in his ear, "I love you." She then stood up and remained a second, just staring at him, a blank expression on her face before she smiled again, told him she would see him later, then ran off again to where the makeup people were waiting for her.

Sandy watched her go, then looked at a now uneasy Leonard, really noticing that something was wrong with him. Sandy had heard the 'I love you' again, just like last night, but unlike last night, she noticed the concern in Penny's face before she left him. Sandy didn't like the way this was going, this sudden romance and Penny already in love with this guy, a guy that seemed uncomfortable with her, as Sandy could see. Sandy convinced herself she needed to put an end to this, she could tell it was heading to disaster and Penny had barely recovered from her last love affair, she didn't need another one now.

"So Leonard what are your plans?" Sandy casually asked.

Leonard looked at her with a blank expression, "I don't understand."

"Well after Penny leaves, tomorrow, are you still working here?" Sandy asked trying to look innocent.

Leonard just looked at her, thinking about her words, especially the 'Penny leaving tomorrow'. It seemed to amplify all his doubts he had about him and her and only made it more realistic to him, that they didn't belong together. "I have work to do the rest of the week, so I won't be leaving till the end of the week."

"Oh." Sandy now went in for the kill. "So you and Penny will probably part ways, I'm guessing. She has a lot to do when she gets back and won't be around that much anyway. You know movies and such."

Leonard nodded, thinking about what Penny's agent said, their worlds were so much different and she just confirmed what he had been thinking since last night. They had separate lives and they would be going different ways. "Yes probably."

**xxxxxxxxxxxTROPICAL PARADISExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

They were having a couple hour dinner break, everyone now waiting till sunset to take some final shots before they were done for the day. Penny was now temporarily changed back into shorts and a tank top, during her break, like he was use to seeing her, as they both sat down at a table together to eat salads. Them now being together made Leonard think about all what needed to be said, as he sat at the table opposite Penny, and as he looked at her he knew he needed to say the words to end it. Penny, herself, just missed him so much, immediately putting her hands on the table to take his, but becoming disappointed as his remained in his lap the whole time. The lack of his touch was disconcerting to Penny, as her previous concern with him welled up again, and now as she looked into his eyes she only saw sadness. "Leonard, what's wrong."

They were alone and Leonard knew she was leaving tomorrow, so this was probably the best time to talk to her. "Penny, I don't think….I don't think it will work between us." the words had to be forced out of him, he so didn't really want to say them, but he knew he had to.

Penny was stunned and confused, she never thought things were this bad between them, "What do you mean? Leonard, we haven't even been together that long, not as a couple at least. How can you say that? Why Leonard?" Penny felt desperate, this couldn't really be happening.

"We are from two different worlds Penny. I don't belong in your world and you are too good for mine." It sounded stupid but he didn't know any other way to say it.

Penny stared at him, not believing what he was saying. "What do you mean too good for your's? Why would you think that you don't belong in mine?"

"Penny I'm not good with the words, and I have never had to do this before, but I know you and I won't work, there is just too much different about us. I'm sorry." Leonard looked at her for a second, her face was full of confusion, it was actually killing him and he just wanted to run. "Penny I need to go." Leonard knew was about to break down and he didn't want her to see him like that. He quickly stood up and turned to leave.

Leonard's standing up made Penny's voice come back from the shock that currently engulfed her, "Leonard, how can you do this? I love you Leonard."

Leonard stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, tears were coming down her cheeks and he just wanted to go to her and hold her, but he knew if would be only temporary, it would not last. "I love you too, more than you will ever know, but it won't work, we are two different people. I'm sorry." Leonard then forced himself to turn around and using every bit of willpower he had left, walk away.

Penny was devastated, she wanted to run after him, beg him not to leave, and she was just about to do that, when she felt the arm around her shoulder, it was Sandy, she had been eavesdropping on everything. "Penny, don't chase a man who doesn't want you, you're too good for that. You got over Tom and you will get over him, there is a special man out there for you, believe me."

Penny just stared as Leonard disappeared into the crowd around them, she knew Sandy was right, there was a special man for her and she also knew that man was Leonard. Penny turned and cried on Sandy's shoulder, she just wanted to die right now, she had watched the love of her life walk away, she knew it. He was the one and she would probably never see him again, she also knew her life would never be the same.


End file.
